MichelleAna Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Are Tankless Water Heaters Worth The Investment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Totally! I won't be without one now. We've installed them in two houses now. Note, we tend to use hot water in high use for short spurts of time divided by long periods of no hot water use. So, the energy savings are huge. If you are forced to get an electric one get one made by a German company with a name starting with an 'S'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Oh yes!! We had one in our old house and loved it. We do not have one in this house and are waiting to replace one of our hot water heaters and will definitely go tankless. I probably would ‘t Replace a perfectly good regular one with a tankless, but if it were getting close to time for a new one, definitely go tankless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 They might be worth it in a new build, but it costs a pretty hefty penny to retrofit an existing hot water system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodlebug Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 With tankless, my big old cast iron bath tub fills to the brim with hot water. Just say no to tepid bath water! lol! My husband (handy) installed ours. We’re in an old home and it did take some doing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 3 hours ago, Ellie said: They might be worth it in a new build, but it costs a pretty hefty penny to retrofit an existing hot water system. True. We put ours in when we were building our old house. We are thinking of installing one in the house we just bought when the old water heater dies, but it will take some doing, i’m Sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 5 hours ago, kand said: How are they for multiple people needing to use the hot water at the same time. I’ve been researching for a while, and one concern I keep seeing is that the flow rate isn’t high enough to provide hot water for multiple locations at the same time. Like, it would be better at providing three hours of hot water continuously to one faucet than to allow two showers to be taken at the same time while the laundry is also running. Also, any maintenance issues? I saw a number of reports of them doing poorly with untreated hard water. You just need to get one sized big enough. I remember a chart that had had many water outlets (or maybe bathrooms) and what zone you were in. For example, the same house in Minnesota needs a bigger water heater than one in Texas because the incoming water is colder. Another I liked when DD was little. There is a digital temperature setting, so we left it lowered to a safe temp for her. Then if we needed to do something like run a Sanitize wash cycle, we raised the temp. Another another nice thing was the extra storage space. The furnace and the tank water heater are in a closet off one of the main hallways. So, when the tank heater left we had all that open area. You wouldn't want to put shelves there. But those giant plastic storage containers with the solid plastic lids were great. If the water is hard, then you just need to do more maintenance on it. But that is true on a tank water heater too. DH and I spent our first days of marriage taking care of the carpet after the tank water heater busted. I hate tank water heaters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 I grew up with tankless water heaters in Spain, and it was wonderful! Never running out of hot water! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexabartel Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 I think that all depends on your home's water usage/needs. Personally, I think tankless water heaters are great. They have efficiency levels higher than 95% and only heat water as needed whereas the traditional method will heat an entire tank of water for standby, which is such a waste! Read more https://iwaterpurification.com/tankless-water-heater-reviews/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Ours takes forever to heat. Forever. I feel guilty every time I have to let the water run. Something to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 (edited) We purchased our last house with tankless water heaters. I *love* them! I can take hour long showers (and I had a teen who did!) and the water is still hot! The water in the faucets closest to the heater are hot almost immediately. The ones further away aren't as fast - it takes longer for the hot water to get there - but when it does, it is hot! I don't know if this is because of the tankless or not, but when you are taking a shower, and someone flushes the toilet, the shower water temperature does not fluctuate. ETA: If we ever move to a house with a traditional tanked water heater, we will replace it with tankless when it needs replacement (We aren't the type to just replace something that is functioning!). Edited March 21, 2019 by Bambam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 29 minutes ago, Bambam said: ... I don't know if this is because of the tankless or not, but when you are taking a shower, and someone flushes the toilet, the shower water temperature does not fluctuate. DH appreciates this. Even chanting "Do Not Flush. Do Not Flush" there is a 70% chance I will flush while chanting. At this house, we also have PEX plumbing so I haven't known how much of that was from PEX. One thing about the PEX, it makes the hot water start just as quickly as a tank heater. Since it just has to clear out the water on one skinny pipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Absolutely love my tankless water heater. We don't even think about showers, and saving water for someone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulasue Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 We have one in our current house. We did not put it in, so not sure about what considerations were taken in when it was installed. We are a family of 3, so hot water was never a problem with a regular hot water heater. We cannot run 2 things using hot water at once. I can't wash clothes and have the dishwasher going at the same time. You can get fluctuating hot water, if you have 2 hot water things going at a time. If I get up an put a load in the washing machine, then try to take a shower, I will know when the washing machine is needing water. I have had to rely on my dish washer and my washing machines delay cycle every day. I have learned I do things in spurts, like load the washing machine, then do dishes in the kitchen, that does work for our tankless. I can't seem to catch up, because I have to space everything out. I don't like to run appliances while we are gone. I hope we just have a small one, because I am tired of having to try to analyze dish washing cycle times, washing machine cycle times, showers, before I try to clean the kitchen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 We had a tankless water heater for a while but replaced it with an old fashioned tank. It took a very long time for hot water to reach our shower, which was on the opposite side of our (ranch style) house. We have very hard water, so we had issues with sediment buildup. And because we don't have gas service in our area, we had an electric version, so if the power went out, we had no hot water at all. I've heard that the gas tankless heaters are better than electric, but that wasn't an option for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 On 3/20/2019 at 2:03 PM, kand said: How old is yours, and do you have a long run from its location to your faucets? 5 years old? Short run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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