Tankless Water Heaters (house, utilities, price)

[221B]

Are tankless water heaters common in Maine? If so, are they generally used in addition to a traditional water heater, or in place of one? Finally, would propane be the fuel of choice, or electric?
It seems as though they may be a reasonable addition to a home utilities strategy.

[Maine Writer]

I love our on-demand propane water heater. It's the only hot water heater we have. It's nice to never be out of hot water.

[broadbill]

We have a on-demand oil boiler and I give it a big "meh" rating....sure, unlimited hot water, but the pressure isn't all that great out of them. I actually just had a plumber in to quote us some work-arounds for better pressure..he recommended a holding tank.

As for tankless water heaters, you can google it for some opinions/reviews and from what I saw I wasn't too impressed. They are more energy efficient, but it takes many years of enery savings to break even on the initial cost of them. Performance wise, its also a mix....water temp is variable, and I'd also imagine they have similar pressure issues.

[mollysmiles]

I would love to have one! Right now our hot water is off our boiler system, which of course uses oil. Personally, if there is any way to decrease household dependence on heating oil right now I'd do it. We're looking into a tankless water heater, but frankly, at this point, I'm not opposed to an electric one either. I'd have a switch installed or set it to a timer. Our boiler is only four years old, and it's efficient, that's not problem. The problem is that anyone intelligent working in heating right now will tell you that if it's possible to get away from oil, do it. The price is not going to ever come down long term, and it's not really going to be efficient cost wise again.

[msina]

I've looked into them a bit. From what I understand, the water temperature of my well water is too cold for an "tankless" water heater. I could install a warming tank or use my electric tank to warm the water a bit and have the "tankless" heater heat it to the desired temp. As I had to replace my water heater at the time I did ask the plumber we use. I opted for a new electric heater. It's much more effecient than what we had and to put both systems in at the time would have cost much more.

[RHB]

I've had them in other locations, and loved them. Like msina, we were told the well water is too cold for them, without a warming tank, which in my pea brain seemed somewhat defeating the purpose.

[mainerwoman]

I have one as well. Works great. It was cost effective for us. Our home is a 1893 Victorian, original plumbing, original steam radiators. We replaced the furnace and the electric water heater when we bought the house over ten years ago, and while it was a big investment, it has payed off for us. I can't say if there is a pressure difference, When your dealing with plumbing that is over 100 years old you just kinda go with the flow. LOL.

[221B]

Originally Posted by msina

I've looked into them a bit. From what I understand, the water temperature of my well water is too cold for an "tankless" water heater.

That is an interesting insight. I would suspect this might be an issue in a number or cold-winter locations. I'll have to do further research.
I wonder if a tankless mounted inside a home would have the same issues. Probably, because the water is almost as cold?

[Maine Writer]

I have well water. I stuck a thermometer in the running water this morning. It's 48* after running for a 10 minute shower.

[Coaster]

We had an electric tankless water heater under our kitchen sink when we bought this house, in addition to the conventional electric hot water heater in the basement. I never understood the logic for that, but the previous owner was a plumber and maybe it was an experiment. The one thing I noticed when I turned it off was that our electric bill dropped significantly, so when we remodeled the kitchen I had it taken out.

Tankless water heaters are common in Europe, and we've used them there. Again, I wasn't impressed with either the so-called "convenience" or the results. In one place we stayed, the water heater was coin-operated, and we had to feed it British one-pound coins to take a shower. Not fun!