Water heater help !! (house, price, propane)

[11jay11]

Going to need a new 50 gal water heater or something else as I'm a little confused, there's just two of us and once a day tub and my once a day shower is it.

I see tankless, gas, propane........... seem endless options, is there a speed rear listed some where get boned up to speed?

MTIA

[11jay11]

NEED a water-heater guru ???

[JacksonvilleNative]

Couple questions. What do you have now? Electric or gas? Where is it located in the house? Is it close to and outside wall?

The conventional wisdom is to go with tankless. They can be a bit pricey and are not always easy to install, but I think it would be beneficial if you can go that route.

Give me a little more info and I might can help you.

[EricBoyd]

A tankless system may require that you upgrade your electric service, too. Of course that depends on what you have now.

[frisky]

I have a tankless propane heater. They have to be mounted outside the home (due to concerns about CO, I guess) and it takes a bit of time before the water is actually hot at the tap. As a result, my water usage is a bit higher than it might be with a tanked system. This, of course, would also result in a higher sewer charge. If I weren't on a well/septic system, I'm not sure the differential in electrical and water/sewer would justify the initial expense.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably go with a tank and just put a timer on it to save on electric.

[Restrain]

Don't go with an electric tankless, not very effective. If your house is all-electric, it would be more costly, but you could see if you could get a plumber to install a propane tankless or standard HWH. Propane would still be cheaper than electric. But you would have to have a vent installed. If you have gas to the house, conversion to a tankless system is relatively easy, more cost effective.

The cheapest, if you have an electric HWH, is just to replace with a dual-element high-efficiency HWH.