tankless hot water heater!

[jebartle]

Do you have one.....Approx. how much was heater and installation?
I understand that after cost of heater and installation, the return of savings is several years.....Give me the pros and cons....thank you

[UpNorth]

Generally speaking, replacing a decent tank water heater with a tankless one will not save you much, even in the long run (check Consumer Reports). All that being said, I just recently replaced my entire hot water and forced-air heating system with a Rinnai tankless condensing water heater (95% efficient) coupled to two Rinnai hydronic forced air furnaces. I use natural gas and have a 3000 sq ft home in the Northeast. The Rinnai efficiently sends 140-degree water to the furnaces to heat the house. The 140-degree water is reduced to 120-degrees by mixing with cold water to supply my hot water needs. Amazingly efficient system. However, I don't think a tankless heater just to supply your hot water needs would be a good choice in TV. It will cost you at least double that of a tank system.

[cappyjon431]

We do not have one here, although before we moved here (we were living in Panama) they are widely used and we had one in our home there. We are considering installing one when/if our current tank needs to be replaced.

Ours was propane powered and it was a cheap (about $200) Chinese brand and our plumber installed it for $50. I know these rates cannot compare to here and if we have one installed here I will be looking for a better quality unit. The big problem that I had with ours in Panama was that it was very hard to regulate the water temperature--it was usually either too hot or too cold and if I ever did find the perfect temperature it would usually be good for only a few minutes and then get either too hot or to cold. I attribute this to our unit being a cheapo one (only type available on our remote island) and the fact that our water pressure was not always reliable.

[Dirigo]

We have a gas range, gas hot water heater, gas furnace, and a natural gas grill. Last month our gas bill was $32.

I'd guess that most of that gas was used to heat water, Iit would take a long time to get your money back on an on-demand hot water heater.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

We shopped the tankless hot water heaters about 3-4 years ago for our home in OH. I passed on them, primarily based on two things:

- A flow rate (gal./hr.) capability issue

- Cost versus return of investment.

We've got a large garden/soaking tub in the master bath that is supplied by 3/4" supply lines.........and the flow rate for the faucet is pretty high (I don't remember the exact figure). If we were to try to install a single tankless heater for the entire house, it potentially wouldn't have been able to keep up if the tub was being filled at the same time as other hot water items in the house were in use. To go to a second heater just to supply the tub/master bath........the costs started getting out of hand.

If you do decide to go the tankless route, make sure the specs for the unit will accommodate the estimated flow rate for your house - what hot water items could you potentially be using at the same time (and for what length of time).

Bill :)

[bonrich]

We just moved into our new home in Sanibel. During the walk-thru with the builder I asked him about the tankless water heater. He said it was tried awhile ago and it ended up costing too much in maintenance. Lots of mineral content in the water and it clogs up the tubes in the system, whereas the hot water tanks have a rod installed inside it to cut down on the mineral build-up.

[CaptJohn]

We just moved into our new home in Sanibel. During the walk-thru with the builder I asked him about the tankless water heater. He said it was tried awhile ago and it ended up costing too much in maintenance. Lots of mineral content in the water and it clogs up the tubes in the system, whereas the hot water tanks have a rod installed inside it to cut down on the mineral build-up.

Those are very important points well worth considering. The rod is replaceable.

[notlongnow]

I have one in my home. I don't live in TV "YET" but I will.

As stated before, it will take a very very long time to recover your costs at the rate that we pay for nat. gas now.
It is expensive, mine about $1200 for the Rinnai plus install.
It works perfect and very quiet.
As far as mineral build up you must use a water softner to keep it clean or it will clog and fail.

So why did I do it??

I design homes here in Texas and my customers kept asking me what I thought and I could not get good reliable info from my local Rinnai supplier so when I built my home 5 or so years ago I installed one in the guest side of the house and it works great.
Would I do it again, sure but only because of space savings and not utility bill savings.
Is it worth it, probably not.
EB

[pauld315]

Here in NC, I had to replace my standard hot water heater at a cost of 900 dollars because of the way it had to be vented, then the new one died within 5 years so they replaced it since it was still in the warranty but still charged for labor. Then, 4 years later the replacement went. Of course, this was not covered under warranty. At that point, I went with the tankless Rinnai. I have had it now for about 4 years with no problems. It works great and has a 30 year warranty. As far as savings are concerned, I am not really sure but I think it is saving me about 10-20 per month. It cost about 2800 completely installed. The warranty alone is worth it to me. There must be something in the water here that destroys regular hot water heaters.

[jebartle]

Will pass this info to the "ole boy"

[Biker Dog]

:confused:Here in NC, I had to replace my standard hot water heater at a cost of 900 dollars because of the way it had to be vented, then the new one died within 5 years so they replaced it since it was still in the warranty but still charged for labor. Then, 4 years later the replacement went. Of course, this was not covered under warranty. At that point, I went with the tankless Rinnai. I have had it now for about 4 years with no problems. It works great and has a 30 year warranty. As far as savings are concerned, I am not really sure but I think it is saving me about 10-20 per month. It cost about 2800 completely installed. The warranty alone is worth it to me. There must be something in the water here that destroys regular hot water heaters.Read the fine print. If the unit is not connected to a softwater system the warranty is nole and void. So our plumber told us before he installed one for us. Needless to say we went with a tank model.

[cybermuda]

If going tankless is just to reduce annual running costs then remember that today's "tanks" are more efficient than older ones, and you can get ones that have a built-in heat exchanger - think how hot your garage gets in the summer.

However, as others have said, usually not worth replacing until you have to.