Anybody have a tankless water heater?

[trof]

My daughter's water heater is on it's last legs and she's thinking of replacing it with a tankless.
She's in Boston.
Any comments?
Thanks.

[GOPisEvil]

1. I don't have one, but I've heard good things about them.

Expensive up front, but more efficient. I did stay on a houseboat that had one, and it worked fine.

[AlCzervik]

2. my sister has one in her house, she says it works great

and is energy efficient but it does cost a bit more up front.

[trof]

3. Thanks guys.

Yes, the upfront cost is more, but she has become a very energy conscious environmentalist.
And she makes me proud.
:-)

[oneighty]

4. My son-in-law

has a friend sells 'em and installs them. About $475 I think he 'suggested'. He has a friend using one says it is excellent both in lots of hot water and cheaper than a tank. Also no chimney required, another bonus.

My next water heater will be one of those. Good bye old brick chimney. By golly.

Ed

[ragin_acadian]

5. get a gas unit.

water is an ion...or is it a cation? either way, water will collect particles of whatever it is moving through, and they tend to deposit in the heating tubes of electric units, turning them into lightning rods.

i've replaced a few circuit boards for the seisco/microtherm units, and it isn't cheap.

[Syncronaut Seven]

8. Lightning rods?

You'll have to explain that process to me, I can't imagine! Although hard water is something to consider when choosing.

Gas is my favorite too, though not so much a hedge against energy costs anymore. Mostly because you can provide 4x the BTU's with a few pieces of cheap, low tech (black) iron pipe.

[ragin_acadian]

9. from what i remember from high school chemistry, college,

and plumbing - which is very hazy, at best - H2O is deficient one electron. therefore, when it moves through copper or iron pipe, it picks up iron or copper particles, and they are deposited in the heating tubes on electrical heating units. it might be due to heat, or due to the composition of the tubes themselves, or even an electrical attraction to the heating element.

i have had a few drinks, so i can't quite recall how the whole process works, but i do know that electrical point of use heaters end up with metallic gunk in the heating tubes after a year, and i live in one of the places more prone to lightning storms in the US.

from my experience, you install one of these things, it works for awhile, and then one day you get a lightning strike, and the circuit board on the unit is FUBAR.

when you say cast iron pipe provides 4x the BTU's, do you mean the piping?

[Syncronaut Seven]

10. BTU's based on a typical gas water heater

with a 3\4" supply pipe being able to supply ~100,000+ BTU/Hr -vs- a standard 4,500 Watt electric HWH wich only outputs around 14,500 BTU/Hr.

Most house electrical systems would have a hard time supplying enough amps to heat water as fast as gas, being my point.

If circuit boards are getting zapped it's because of incorrect or insuficient service ground, or the equipment's susceptability to line surges.

Any house that relied solely on water pipe grounding would be highly susceptable to damage.

I sell a few ground rods ;) Makes those types of "mystery" problems go away lickety split.

[ragin_acadian]

13. ah, thanks for the info.

i don't even sell those units any more, when people ask me about tankless units, i tell them Rinnai, or Noritz - both are gas.

[CanuckAmok]

15. I do. I even knitted a cozy quilt for it, and not so much as...

...an akcknowledgement.

[China_cat]

6. My in-laws had one for over 50 years.

Of course, that was in Holland where water heaters with tanks are really rare. There was never a shortage of hot water, never ran out no matter how long you showered. We're planning on putting one in in the coming year.

Edited to add, ditto on recommending gas over electric.

[Syncronaut Seven]

7. If the tankless is electric, consider.

Though overall energy costs are lower, peak current demand can be a problem. Electric tankless heaters require a larger electrical circuit to operate, 50 or 60 Amps -vs- the existing 30 amp circuit.

By the same token, If your service is small, say 60 - 125 Amps, electric tankless may not be feasible without a service upgrade. Big new loads on old small services = rather spectacular fires.

If your brother's an electrician, maybe an extra $75 for parts plus beer. Otherwise, count on an extra $350 or so for the electrical work.

[sleipnir]

11. I have one in my rental. It's not bad.

I like it, the water is always hot. When it's not supplying hot water (there's always a modest sized tank) the gas is lit only about 10 minutes out of an hour in the winter and about 5 minutes in the summer. I think it's probably cheaper in the long run. But, I don't know. Mine heats my apartment as well, which can be a bit of a bummer if you hop in the shower and the radiator heat turns on exactly then. Though, it's only been a problem once or twice.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. My entire life has been tankless.

:rofl:

I'm sorry, but it was there and I went for it.

[MANative]

14. My dad is building a new house and

is planning to use one. He does RELENTLESS research on efficiency and effectiveness and is completely sold on the tankless water heater. He's also in MA, just south of Boston.

[ShadesOfGrey]

16. Our 7 yo gas water heater started leaking 2 weeks ago.

We did tons of research trying to figure out what to replace it with.

The European style (tankless) water heaters are awesome! If we were planning to stay in the same house for at least another 3-5 years, we definitely would have gone that route.
However, in our case, since we are planning on moving next year we couldn't justify paying 1K more for it.

[SW FL Dem]

17. I put one into my house in the early 90s

It was great to have unlimited hot water on demand and to free up space in the laundry room (the unit went into the attic so I got a storage closet where the old water heater was). The only problem was when we needed to replace a part and the original installer had gone out of business. It took a few days to find someone to repair it.

[gizmo1979]

18. I don't but

I'm getting one real soon.I read about them and they sound great.That or a solar unit.Screw the gas company.There are tax deductions for both.