Question For Plumbers

[BrianinMD]

Need to switch out our water heater, thinking about going with a tankless unit. Like the option of electric and space savings. Just do not know anyone who has experience with them.

 

Any pro's or con's to installing one?

[mrmacwvu1]

For a small family I think they are fine. However we had ten people staying at our house one year for Christmas and it was a nightmare.

[MarkH024]

For a small family I think they are fine. However we had ten people staying at our house one year for Christmas and it was a nightmare.

I would think it would benefit more hot water use no?  I almost was going to put one in my condo and decided to just go with a 40Gallon standard. 

 

Why was it a nightmare? Too small to supply hot water through out the home?

[mrmacwvu1]

Oh god yes.

Three people would get a hot shower then it went to warm then cold.

It could never keep up.

I have since moved so I do not know the brand.

I also never noticed the difference in the water or gas bills.

[Darren.]

Need to switch out our water heater, thinking about going with a tankless unit. Like the option of electric and space savings. Just do not know anyone who has experience with them.

 

Any pro's or con's to installing one?

 

I don't have one at my house, but a buddy does and he swears by it.

 

Don't know the brand, but now-a-days there are numerous outfits for different sized families.  I've heard nothing but good about them and have considered upgrading at my house, but my layout makes it a bit of a task as I want to have a gas unit, but no gas at that side of the house.

[paleus]

Oh god yes.

Three people would get a hot shower then it went to warm then cold.

It could never keep up.

I have since moved so I do not know the brand.

I also never noticed the difference in the water or gas bills.

 

All these people trying to shower at the same time? I would have thought that it wouldn't matter if you aren't asking it to heat too much water at once. I thought that was how a tankless worked, heats water on demand instead of keeping a limited tank hot.

[MarkH024]

All these people trying to shower at the same time? I would have thought that it wouldn't matter if you aren't asking it to heat too much water at once. I thought that was how a tankless worked, heats water on demand instead of keeping a limited tank hot.

Same as what I thought, which is why I was curious to the problem.  Like Darren said, everyone I know that has one swears by it.

[Scott F]

I'm not sure about the current generation of on demand water heaters, but be sure you get one that accounts for the change in the temperature of the incoming water in winter when It has to raise the water temperature in the neighborhood of 60 degrees vs the summer, when it only has to heat the water about 30 degrees.

[gardnerjigman]

I'm not sure about the current generation of on demand water heaters, but be sure you get one that accounts for the change in the temperature of the incoming water in winter when It has to raise the water temperature in the neighborhood of 60 degrees vs the summer, when it only has to heat the water about 30 degrees.

Most current models you don't have to worry about this anymore.

Also for the post about 10 showers. A 50 gallon tank wouldn't have kept up with that many showers so you can't exactly ask a tankless to do the same. I have seen several homes install 2 tankless heaters. 1 supplies bathrooms, 1 supplies kitchen and laundry.

[slonezp]

You're doing it for the right reasons. If you were doing it for energy savings, you'd never get back in savings the extra cost involved in the initial cost, and annual maintenance.

[Crappiebasser]

I had 2 gas tankless heaters when I bought my house and have since swapped to a 50 gallon tank. We have hard water so I was having to clean the scale out of them all the time. I haven't noticed an increase in my gas bill without them either.