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Cost - expect at least $500 if DIY (AND know what you're doing), $1k or more if hiring a professional.
Savings - it depends on your usage. Folks who don't use it that much hot water will save a lot; folks who do use a lot of water would see very little savings.
That said, tankless isn't a universal solution. They are more complicated compared to a regular tank unit (meaning any future servicing will cost more), the gas or power line needs to be sufficiently sized, and will require double-wall vents.
Cost - expect at least $500 if DIY (AND know what you're doing), $1k or more if hiring a professional.
Savings - it depends on your usage. Folks who don't use it that much hot water will save a lot; folks who do use a lot of water would see very little savings.
We currently have a large 75 gal Rheem gas hot water heater and probably wouldn't save much, if anything, going with a tankless hot water heater.
If you are in an area with hard water you will need to condition your water to maximize the efficiency and life of a tankless water heater. This may push the cost up even higher.
I looked into a tankless and found I wouldn't save enough because mine is a hard water region. I purchased the heavily insulated Rheem Marathon instead (electric). If I'm not going to be home for more than 24 hrs. I shut off the breaker to it. Seems to lower my energy costs.
FWIW, I have evaluated going tankless before. Even factoring in energy star and utility rebates, it'd still take me 14 years to break even, provided NOTHING GOES WRONG. Wasn't worth it.
OUr fist one was a Takagi Mobius somthig or other. It cost about $ 1200 or maybe a little more. Takagi allow you to instal it yourslef. We also added a water softener primarily because of the tankless water heater, but we wanted a softener anyway.
Our Current one is a Rennai.
The Takagi had better output. Tht does nto mean that they are necessarily better water heaters, but it was able to keep up with our household's very heavy demands with little loss of volume (pressure). The Rennai has difficulty keeping up. It must be installed by a certified Renai person and our certified Rennai installer messed up the installation.
If I had it to do over, I would stick with Takagi and instal it myself.
You will notice some savings and yu may get a tax rebate from your state for installing a tankless.
The real plus is unlimited hot water. I am not sure why that article was spun so negatively, but the time it takes to get hot water is no different tankless or traditional storage tank.
Even with an 80 gallon water heater we woudl run out of hot water on many mornings. With tankless, you never run out of hot water. Sometimes, if you have too many things running at once, the volume diminishes to a trickle. WE then have to turn some things off or wait.
In our household it is not unusual in the morning to have 3-4 showers running and the dishwasher and clothes washer all at once. That is too much. WE have to turn off the washers and stagger the showers. However unlike a tank, there is no recharge tiem for tankless. Thus, if we cut back to onyl three showers running at a time, everything works out fine.
In a nutshell, with 4-7 people to shower each morning (some shower at night at times), a tnaked water heater is really impractical for us, we almost always run out. With tankless everyone gets warm shower and we can run the dishwasher and clothes washer either before or after the showers.
If you are a late riser and end up with a cold shower every day, then the cost is worth it. However unless you get a reabte from your state, tankless is nto a financial gain, it is a convenience gain.
Two other notes:
Tankless takes up a lot less space. If you live in a warm climate, you can mount it outside on the wall of your house or garage.
Second, descaling is no big deal. You do nto have to pay someone to do it. I bought a pump at Harbor freight for $20. fill a 5 gallon bucket with descaler (or vinegar) and hook a hose up tot he water heater with a return hose to the bucket. Run the descaler through the water heater all night and it will be scale free for another year or two. It takes about ten minutes to set it up and then you just let it run all night. No big deal.
They are not expensive for a small home if you do it yourself and they also can qualify for some federal rebates.
The small Rinnai unit is like $800 or so. I am figuring we are using about $25/month in gas to heat water. If that tanked gas heater is 60% efficient and the new unit is 99% efficient then we could save only about $10 a month (40% of $25?).
You may want to consider point of use water heaters. They are popular in Europe.
They install just before the hot water requirement. For example, if you want tankless hot water for a bath/ shower and bathroom sinks, install the heater just before the hot water pipes to service that bathroom. Then install another at the washing machine. Then another for the kitchen sink. Dishwashers have their own hot water heaters. This way you save on piping as you only need to run a cold water pipe to the source and then split it in a "tee and run the cold water one way the the other cold water through the point of use hot water heater. It may be more expensive to intially install them, but you only heat the water at the point where you use it for the time you are using it, so the savings are real, right away.
I have installed two so far in remote cabins where electricity was available...
They work fine, take up very little space, required no exhaust vent, gas lines... etc.
I don't really think they save much as compared to gas or electric. The reason is continuous hot water allows longer showers without thought to running out.
A neighbor had his home converted... he has four teenage daughters... his water and utility bills increased because they never run out of hot water
If that tanked gas heater is 60% efficient and the new unit is 99% efficient then we could save only about $10 a month (40% of $25?).
Not so fast. Baseline service doesn't change, tankless water heaters are more around the 85% range, and you have other appliances which use gas, which isn't going to change in usage.
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