Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am beyond tired of having a hot water heater in my attic---my understanding is it is normal for those who have no basements and live in cold climates--or just to save room. It is gas and has had one water pipe leak which proved to be a complete pain. I guess when they built our home 10years ago they figured the water heater would last forever since there appears to be no way to have it removed and replaced! I just don't want to bother with gas or a water heater that has a tank any more. How much work is involved, and cost to replace a water heater with a tankless water heater and are they as good as what I have been hearing???
Bottom line here is if you have hard water with lot's of minerals then stick with a conventional heater.
Bottom line here is if you have hard water with lot's of minerals then stick with a conventional heater.
You must know my water here! Hard and full of minerals---well water! So now I can feel a little better about not being able to afford the tankless knowing that infact it would not be the best for my area.
We have 2 smaller hot water heaters (40 gal I think). They were here when we bought the home and I think were installed that way because of a large Jacuzzi bath tub in the master bath. I REALLY like this set up however. We never run out of hot water. The water replaces itself in the process of taking a shower, etc. from one tank to the next. You can also turn one tank down to save energy if you don't need it. There are 5 of us that shower each morning, we have had as many as 12 take a shower in a span of an hour and never have run out of how water. Just something else to consider. The two tanks I am sure are a LOT less expensive than a tankless system. We have a basement so getting them in and out when they need to be replaced won't really be an issue.
Which is more trouble free/longer lasting -- Rennai and Noritz?
Not looking for savings, but for lots of hot water when we need it as our new home has a walk-in tub that we can't use because there is never enough hot water to fill it.
Energy savings from tankless water heaters will take over 20 years to pay itself off. Just go with a high-efficiency (energy factor of 0.62 or greater) tank water heater, preferably a Bradford White or a Rheem.
If you have hard water, then you need a softener for a tank-less. With a water softener, you will be fine.
Tankless water heaters are a luxury item, not a cost savings. If you want the cheapest possible way, do not have a water heater at all. When you need hot water, but heat it in your fireplace. The advantage is that you never run out of hot water. In some homes, there can also be tremendous space savings (that is why we got one to begin with).
With a small family you can be fine with two tanked water heaters if you do not use much hot water. However by the time you put in two tanks, you are probably up near the price of a tankless. for a large family, you cannot beat tankless. We have 5 kids and tankless. Never ever run out of hot water. Our friends have 6 kids and two 80 gallon tank heaters, they still run out o hot water at times. What really stinks is you have to wait a really long time for it to heat up once you run out. It is not like you can just turn one thing off and go back to your shower. if you can afford it, tankless is the way to go.
Energy savings from tankless water heaters will take over 20 years to pay itself off. Just go with a high-efficiency (energy factor of 0.62 or greater) tank water heater, preferably a Bradford White or a Rheem.
Careful when folks make blanket statements like this. Everybody's situation is different. After installing a tankless in spring 2010, our annual LP spending dropped by $450 in winter 2010-11 (back when winter was actually cold!). At the end of winter 2011-12, our LP usage should be nearly $700 less than 2009-10.
Impossible to say for sure what the savings attributable to the tankless is, but the tankless likely is saving us at least $300/year. At a cost of $2000 to install (during the 30% tax credit), that's a max of 7 years to payoff. Probably actually closer to 5 years.
I am looking into doing something with my hot water as well, but I have oil not NG on the block. I'm confused, here in the North East, when people talk tankless water heaters, they mean a tank that gets a zone off of you boiler, essentially another heat zone with a circulator pump. This does not sound like the tankless water heaters on this thread, are they something different?
What we are discussing is essentially a small additional boiler. They are small in size, but not in output. OUr is around 180,000 - 210,000 BTU. It is slightly larger than a desktop computer cabinet. There are a series of tubes and fins inside. The boiler blasts intense heat through the fins/tubes and it heat the water as it travels through the tubes. The hot water is instant. It takes no longer to get hot at the tap than with a tank heater (maybe one or two seconds longer, but nothing you would notice).
Frankly I wish that I had known about the system you are referring to. We could have saved a lot of money by just adding another zone to our boiler. Howeve our boiler has antifreeze in the pipes not potable water, so we woudl have had to do that differently.
Installed tankless (gas) water heater couple of years ago and it has reduced our energy cost by 35%-40%. No problems, easy maintenance, water always hot.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
