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We have had a propane tankless for 6 years now. The knock is its slow to get hot water out of the spigots furthest from the heater, but it saves particularly on electric bills or propane even. Natural gas is much cheaper so offset would take quite a bit of time to recoup. We installed our for 1300.....bought our Rinnai for 899, plus about 120 in fittings, then paid plumber 275 or so to install. We got ours off of Amazon and got it less than what our plumber could get it for by over 100 bucks. I see the Rinnai is now 1171.......or 1870 for the 9.8 HE.
Our water is good enough that we dont have to flush it or do maintenance. Our water is 70ppm/solids.....which is pretty awesome. We have greensand filters, 2 (1) micron permeate filters, and a reverse osmosis system.....so our water quality is better than bottled in most instances. Our coffee is the best.
In winter it has to get hot.....about 30 seconds from knob turn to hot water at closest spigot/shower(our basement is about 50 in winter)....then about 45 seconds elsewhere. In summer its about half this.....or less if it has been running or is particularly warm in basement.
I can say we didnt notice any huge savings, but our electric rates have gone up faster than savings, I believe. I think we saved about 15 bucks a month in electric, and have not used any more in propane that I am aware of. We have never gone over 800 gallons in a year. But, if you have harder water you have to maintain them and service them at least once a year.....so unless you do it yourself you had better figure this in.
We do have endless hot water also.....we can run 3 taps until our 200 gallon tank runs down.....but our system starts making water. Ours is also a 7.5gal/min ......I think there is a 9.8 gal, and HE unit too.....and there are even more efficient systems as ours wasnt the super efficient 96% or whatever it is now. Ours is like 82%?
So if you have more than 3 people in your house, or are doing laundry, taking a shower and doing something else I would suggest the higher capacity. And depending on how much you use....the super efficient may be worth the extra 700 bucks, that also includes the extra 1/3 capacity.
We have had literally zero issues. We also turned ours to 140.....as high as it can be turned without scalding. And it does get HOT. After it has run......the water comes back hot almost instantaneously, but there are those so called cold water sandwiches we deal with, but my understanding is they have circulators in them now that have pretty much eliminated this.
Thats it.....Im all for them, and I am sure it will pay, especially if your water tank will be electric. It is a no brainer. Ours is the Rinnai......and I think most problems arise from hard water aspects......ours is very soft water.
With 5 people in the house, I would never go back to a regular tank water heater.
Our tankless has been amazing, and it only takes an extra 30-45 seconds to get to the farthest room. Never running out of hot water or worrying about a toilet flush turning the shower cold is well worth the wait.
They are considered an excellent upgrade in our local housing market.
Position it correctly and there will be very little lead time. We had them in two houses in the US (currently water is tied into geothermal). My folks had it in Europe back in the 70s. Nothing like unlimited hot water if you need it.
My old place had just a 50 gallon tank, with more than 2 people living in the house it was easy to run out of hot water, you had to wait a few hours for the tank to heat back up. Annoying.
Electric, or natural gas? Gas-fired tankless has a lot of advantages over a 50 gallon tank.
I've lived with a couple of different tankless, both propane (no natural gas here). One had a pilot light that blew out on windy days. The other had battery ignition that worked much better.
The one we had for a few years did not deliver consistent temperature water; it would go from very hot to very cold. The problem may have been clogged screen, never did figure it out, we just went back to our tank heater.
The new house were building offers this upgrade for $2k. I think the price is reasonable but what we can't figure out is if the hype is worth the change from a regular 50 gallon tank to a tankless. I've read several articles that leave me with more questions than answers and almost talk us out of getting one. The savings per year for one. Seems it would take several years to pay off a ticket item like that. We already know we won't be in this house forever and are thinking of an5 year plan. That said I know plans change. I'm coming to the conclusion that the hype on these that was in full swing 5-7 years ago is dying down greatly. What are opinions on this? Is it really a better way to go?
Be sure to ask how many GPM@ TEMP, that is, how much water at ~125 deg. can it put out. Calculate it for a real family situation such as, someone in a shower, running a hot water faucet and maybe a dishwasher, all at the same time. Now is the time to ask or you'll regret it later.
My old place had just a 50 gallon tank, with more than 2 people living in the house it was easy to run out of hot water, you had to wait a few hours for the tank to heat back up. Annoying.
This is us! And in the winter it's a REAL struggle. You can really wait 2 hours in between showers and still run out of how water from the 40 gallon tank. We're doing a remodel soon and tankless hot water is high on the list. We rented a cabin in the mountains one year that had a tankless and it was wonderful! There's ALWAYS hot water even while someone showers. Back to back showers was fantastic! And no one was stuck freezing taking a shower.
The new house were building offers this upgrade for $2k. I think the price is reasonable but what we can't figure out is if the hype is worth the change from a regular 50 gallon tank to a tankless. I've read several articles that leave me with more questions than answers and almost talk us out of getting one. The savings per year for one. Seems it would take several years to pay off a ticket item like that. We already know we won't be in this house forever and are thinking of an5 year plan. That said I know plans change. I'm coming to the conclusion that the hype on these that was in full swing 5-7 years ago is dying down greatly. What are opinions on this? Is it really a better way to go?
One factor you might not have considered--
Even with homes that are planned for a tankless system you might have problems w/the washer you choose...
My understanding from doing research for a new w/d for myself and NOT having a tankless system to take into consideration is that people who have upgraded a conventional water heater to a tankless can often have problems getting HOT or even warm water to their washer...
I know when we lost our first water heater -- the house came w/two NG conventional 50 or 55 gal heaters--
The plumber I was dealing with said that it would take changing out the NG pipe because tankless would require a larger diameter gas line and also a different vent stack...expensive in addition to the cost of the tankless unit itself...
My husband wasn't willing to pay the cost to retrofit and we just got a good quality NG heater...
One factor you might not have considered--
Even with homes that are planned for a tankless system you might have problems w/the washer you choose...
My understanding from doing research for a new w/d for myself and NOT having a tankless system to take into consideration is that people who have upgraded a conventional water heater to a tankless can often have problems getting HOT or even warm water to their washer...
I know when we lost our first water heater -- the house came w/two NG conventional 50 or 55 gal heaters--
The plumber I was dealing with said that it would take changing out the NG pipe because tankless would require a larger diameter gas line and also a different vent stack...expensive in addition to the cost of the tankless unit itself...
My husband wasn't willing to pay the cost to retrofit and we just got a good quality NG heater...
I'm assuming (but shouldn't assume anything) that since this is going on with the construction of the home all pipes etc will be the correct size and we would need to retrofit anything. Jotted down on my questions list.
Position it correctly and there will be very little lead time. We had them in two houses in the US (currently water is tied into geothermal). My folks had it in Europe back in the 70s. Nothing like unlimited hot water if you need it.
The builder has chosen the position and they have it in the upstairs storage(attic) closet. There is one full bath upstairs. Two more full baths, laundry room and dishwasher downstairs. Most water will be used downstairs which leaves me wondering if the designated area they install them at isn't ideal.
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