Tankless Water heater??

[Ed]

Anyone have experience with the newer tankless natural gas or propane whole house water heaters?

My conventional water heaters will be due for replacement soon and I am looking at options.

Thanks!

-Ed

[seamonkey2]

I did a lot research on this, gas power its the best for your buck

it basically heats water as it passes thru a their pipes when need it, then it shuts off, no heating water in a tank, thats why you get all the hot water you want, all the time

Jose

[BIGBIRD123]

They are great and expensive. The return on the investment is relatively quick, though. I see them alot is construction.

Steve

[hobogato]

the only drawback that we found when researching is that they will not work well for long if you dont have a water softener. we had one plumber who told us he would not sell us one if we didnt have a water softener. he said the hard water here would corrode it from the inside and it would have to be replaced in a couple of years. after much research, we got a whirlpool self cleaning with energy smart.

[carlinsa]

i have one..........i installed it myself and i love it ..........................o yeah and i am a plumber.........: ) :innocent


willing to show people if there is an intrest and you want me to install it...................

[hobogato]

i really wanted to get one, but didnt want to get a water softener. was that other plumber just trying to sell me a softener and a tankless water heater at the same time carl?

[SA-DSM]

How difficult is it to install one? If the only plumbing that I have ever done before is what was required for my tank.

[carlinsa]

they are not very hard to put in if you know what you are doing. in the past 2 years i have put in about 15 or so.


yes,,,,,i perfer to add a water softner just because how many people actually maintain there water heaters like they are supposed too. but if you dont want the softner you can avoid it but you have to be good at serviceing your heater. serviceing involves running a vinegar and water solution through it every 4 to 6 months. will tell how thats done once one its installed.

[rocketeer]

I have seen indoor and outdoor ones. Note that the larger indoor ones have a larger exhaust pipe than most water heaters so you can't just replace your water heater with a tankless without replacing the vent pipe to the outside.

The outdoor models avoid this issue. They have no vent pipe connection. But you can't put them next to windows and a few other things.

The reason for the larger vent pipe is that when these things kick on they really use alot of BTU, almost 200,000 for some. Make sure you have large enough gas line. My 50 gal water heater uses 40,000 BTU.

I think they're a great idea. My water heater is next to an exterior wall. I bought a tankless water heater with the intention of puting it outside where my water heater is now. The connections would be easy. Unfortunately, there's a window right there and the shape of my building wouldn't allow me to put it anywhere on that wall. I'm thinking of puting it near my kitchen sink where I usually have to wait the most for hot water to come.

Jack

[kaiser]

I have been looking into these myself. The only ones worse getting are the larger ones. About $1k. If You put it in this year you may be able to deduct 10% of the cost of your taxes. Now I have been talking to those who install these and about 7 out of 10 installed get pulled out again within 6 month and replaced with a regular waterheater. Water softeners are a must.