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Chance9768 · 03-25-2009, 01:24 AM

Has anyone made the switch to a tankless watterheater? Are they all that they are cracked up to be? With three kids and a ton of cloths being washed our 40 gal. tank is just not enough, been thinking about eather going with a 50 gal or going tankless. Any feedback yall?

GranillaNutz · 03-25-2009, 01:38 AM

i've wired for several electric on demand water heaters, they are very nice. they take a lot of juice so make sure you've got about 90 amps free in ur electrical service, or room for a subpanel somewhere. with the fluctuating prices of natural gas, i'd go the electric route, but it kinda depends on what your original tank is plumbd for... if it's gas, stick with gas. if u got the xtra money for tankless, it's very well worth it, and the xtra 10 gallons u get from the 50 really isn't gonna make too much of a difference i wouldn't think. plus you'll free up some good storage space and use the spot from ur old heater for beer

those lil remote thermostats are nice too.. u can install it right next to your AC/HEAT thermostat (if convenience of installation allows)

socalamcor · 03-25-2009, 01:42 AM

main things youll want to be sure of is enough electric and gas and water supply. ive gone into several homes where piping was too small going into or out of the unit which can cause it to turn itself off. highly recomend tankless over tank. well worth the bit of extra cash it will cost. though there are a few units that cost just around the price of a standard tank water heater. good luck with what ever choice you make.

MikeFlynn74 · 03-25-2009, 01:42 AM

They arent worth it up here. Just not efficient enough to get 38 degree water up to heat.

**sause** · 03-25-2009, 03:05 AM

Don't know about home use but a very small but great micro brewery uses one instead of a HLT.

dagamore · 03-25-2009, 02:04 PM

Here in germany, all of my hot water comes for an 'instant on' tank-less water heater. Mine is gas powered and it does not take very long to get hot water to the shower, Heater in the basement, shower on 2nd floor(right over the heater) and i have great hot water in under 20 seconds. I love it. It does not cost all that much to run, my heating bill (house/floor/water all gas heated) only runs ~75 euros a month.

**Bobby_M** · 03-25-2009, 03:05 PM

The tankless heaters are rated by temp rise at a certain GPM. IMHO (I'm not a plumber) to beat a 40 gallon tanked heater, you're going to spend over $1000 and require at least a 3/4" gas supply.

What is the temperature of your hot water output right now? If you have the thermostat set to something like 120F or lower you're going to run out fast. I run mine at 145F and we can take 2 showers at a time and 2 more back to back. Hotter water in the tank means less in the mix so it lasts longer. The downside is that your kids need to understand not to turn only the hot water on because it's a bit hot. My daughter is 4 and she knows to turn on the cold first, then add a little hot.

**HBHoss** · 03-25-2009, 03:26 PM

Which kind are you considering, on-demand or single whole house tankless? I got the single whole house tankless unit to replace my old tank unit. I still have to wait for the hot water but once it's hot it never runs out. I liked the fact I wasn't heating water in a tank all the time. It's only on when you want hot water.

Boodlemania · 03-25-2009, 03:34 PM

I've got a whole-house propane tankless water heater. Love it. Hands-down some of the best money I spent on the new house a couple years ago.

**BlindLemonLars** · 03-25-2009, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

The tankless heaters are rated by temp rise at a certain GPM. IMHO (I'm not a plumber) to beat a 40 gallon tanked heater, you're going to spend over $1000 and require at least a 3/4" gas supply.

My water heater recently sprung a leak, and I looked very hard into replacing it with a tankless model. It didn't take long to find out that my gas supply was inadequate, and also discovered that I'd need to replace the vent pipe with a larger, stainless steel one. (I'm not sure why stainless is required, but that's the code.) I really wanted to DIY the job, but the necessary upgrades knocked it out of that realm.

I ended up swapping in a conventional heater, 10 gallons larger than the old, for about half the price of the tankless. And that's without including the price of the gas/vent upgrades. Took me about four hours, start to finish.

FWIW, my parents recently remodeled and installed an electric tankless heater for their new master bath. They're not real happy with it, and say it's extremely hard to adjust for a stable temp in the shower.