Tankless water heaters?

[phaux]

The water heaters is way up there in age and I probably need to change it out. I was thinking of going to a tankless unit but have mixed reviews on them. Is anyone here running an electric tankless water heater unit and if so, how well has it worked out for you? Don't have natural gas in the house so no interest in those.

[LS1Goat]

http://www.dfwmustangs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1209

[ram57ta]

I wouldn't go tankless for electric use. Your bill will skyrocket and I personally wasn't impressed with one I installed in a house I rewired/remodeled with my brother in law a few years ago. It did provide non-stop hot water as advertised...but it took forever for the hot water to get to various faucets in the house. Gas tankless works a LOT better, but I'd still prefer a nice big 40-50 gallon HWH properly installed in an attic.

[bubbaearl]

just install a switch. no point in heating all day. my 40 gal will heat up in 10 min or less . shut it off in the evening and back on the next afternoon.
tankless electric is kaka and a fire waiting to happen.

[Kart21]

Sister and Brother in law built a new house and put a GAS tank less one in. Say that it still takes time to get the hot water to the outlets but never run out. Builder recommended a gas one and not electric because of the said issues above.

[Gasser64]

When mine dies, I'm probably gonna buy one of those hybrids. Iirc, they just keep like 5 gallons heated which takes a lot less energy. Then once you use they up, they basically become what you might think of as tankless, just using electricity to heat it as you go. They're supposed to be pretty great energy savers. They are more expensive than a regular water heater though. But it shouldn't take very long for it to earn that money back.

[bubbaearl]

you would be amazed what a thermal blanket and box cover will do. i believe they knew what they were doing in the old days when they put them in small closets. sticking one in a cold garage is nuts .

[71chevellejohn]

you would be amazed what a thermal blanket and box cover will do. i believe they knew what they were doing in the old days when they put them in small closets. sticking one in a cold garage is nuts .

They put mine in a small closet... In the cold garage. When mine dies, I plan on putting a tankless on the wall and an air compressor on the floor in place of the current water heater.

[SS Junk]

I weighed this decision for awhile since the previous house I was in was all electric, and decided on an 80 gallon. Out of four of us we never ran out of water. Even when the tank was getting low the water would still be just warm enough to take a shower, but that only ever happened a few times. We also had multiple people in the house on several occaisons with no complaints.

[Gasser64]

you would be amazed what a thermal blanket and box cover will do. i believe they knew what they were doing in the old days when they put them in small closets. sticking one in a cold garage is nuts .

Same thing for all those people who put their old fridge out in the garage for their beer. Never designed for standard summer temps.

[mardyn]

Big NO on the electric version. Maybe on a gas version.

Got rid of our electric tankless and replaced with a convention tank style heater in 2013.

mardyn

[DamonH]

I have two gas tanks in my garage, planning on ditching them for tankless when they go out - but that's mainly for the space!

[jewozzy]

On a side note what about putting a regular tank outside in a small closet? I've seen that before too but didn't know if there were any added benefits or problems.

[bcoop]

Just remember the tankless requires regular preventative maintenance. (Traditional does too, but nobody does it). The difference is with tankless, you will know immediately when you forget to descale. If you don't maintain it, it won't work well, or at all.

[Ratt]

Just remember the tankless requires regular preventative maintenance. (Traditional does too, but nobody does it). The difference is with tankless, you will know immediately when you forget to descale. If you don't maintain it, it won't work well, or at all.

That's no joke. The water in Frisco is so heavy that it clogged up our <1-year-old tank's thermostat. Thanks for reminding me that I need to clean it out.