Tankless water heaters - opinions?

Tankless gives you instant hot water and is more energy efficient than a conventional tank because you're not keeping a constant supply of water heated until you need it. I'd go for it.

 

I'd look into what the total costs are going to be to have it installed in the home. I looked into it a few years back and the install was more involved than just pluging into the water and gas feeds. The tankless system had to be specially vented etc.

 

Other than a 3/4" gas line to supply the rather large 235,000 btu burner, the installation doesn't look too much different from a conventional water heater.

You'll have a bunch of left over space after you replace the old tank.

If you need to fill a big whirlpool tub it's probably the "hot ticket".

You can download the installation manual. Read through and see if it works in your house.

 

Not quite instant right? 20 second wait?

Much better for consumption though. By the way, where are "our" {North America} gray water systems?

 

I went through this about two years ago. Actually, if you search, there may be a thread. But at that time the consensus between most experts was to go with a conventional heater. It seems like tankless heaters are OK if you have a smaller home or don't use a lot of hot water. They're not great at feeding multiple appliances/showers simultaneously, and they can only be installed in certain areas of your home due to the required venting.

 

What electric tankless heaters?


Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

I looked into it but went for a traditional heater because the tankless sytem may reduce water pressure to the showers.

If you are the type that enjoys low flow shower heads, then it make work for you.

 

I hated mine in my last house. If you turn down the flow rate of your hot water too low, it will shut down the hot water stream as a protective measure. My wife likes hot showers, I don't. As I would reduce the amount of hot water, I would often hit the "rev limiter" and get chilled. I had to periodically "tune" the settings at the heater in the attic based on the seasons. Granted, my units were about ten years old. I'm sure updates in the technology have happened since. For my newest house, I went with regular gas heaters.

Steve

 

Interesting... thank you very much for the info!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

We bought a Tagaki heater last year, havent used it yet as we decided to use a Baxi (same as the Laars Mascot) heater for that building. But heres the main things I"ve noticed.

For venting, its about the same as a regular NG water heater, although you may not be able to use ABS pipe anymore. Other than that, its great. The reason for switching is because our air handler is also using the hot water, and the Baxi/Laars units have a section for the closed loop for the air handler and then the other section for the DHW. Installation cost is about the same, I reinforced the wall myself for the mounting. Best thing is if you're out of town for say a week, your conventional heater will turn on for at least 3-4hours (or more/less? I'm guessing... feel free to correct me). The tankless will only turn on for a total of 7 minutes (well the one I installed does, I think the others do too), so that the bearings/seals do not dry out. So it comes to 4hrs of gas a week, or 7minutes? Thats 6hours a year vs 208hours.

In the long run I think it makes sense, both for overall costs and space being saved., Plus if your kitchen is near the tank, even better. That 10-15second delay will always be there to get the water to the tap unless you install one of those under-sink systems that circulate the water through so its always hot (but then forget the 6hr/yr idle usage)

 

If it is a gas tankless it should be good for you. If it is electric you need some pretty large amperage to run the tankless for the whole house. Generally you need around 100-150 amps dedicated for the electric models. In either case you can run a recirculating pump to keep hot water available at the taps in seconds. That uses a little more energy (like $30 per month) but is very convenient.

BT

 

Takagi TM-1-N Mobius Tank less Water Heater is a natural gas unit.

 

I worked for Takagi. I would never install their water heaters in MY house. Crap products form crap people.

 

I have a Takagi in my house, we put in a shower spa system and I wanted to make sure we had enough hot water as well as instant hot water.
No complaints from my end......I also think the gov is giving a $300 tax credit on them.

 

I nearly put in a tankless 2 weeks ago. Turns out the gas tankless heaters have to have stainless steel venting, with no joints or rivets. It would've cost me thousands to have my existing venting replaced, so back to traditional for us.

 

Thats not exactly true on the SS venting. You can use BH Vent (new) or some specialized piping that actually from the manufacturer.

 

Personally I don't have one but my hockey team mates were talking in the locker room last night and 3 guys had them and said they are wonderful and anyone looking to replace they're heater should get the tankless model.