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Tankless water heaters?

BulldogsCadillac

BulldogsCadillac

Just some guy
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Anybody on here have a tankless water heater in their home?Do you like it? 
 
I just replaced mine. The Takagi TK-2 stopped working after 10 years and I didn't have time to wait for a repairman so I yanked it and installed a TK-4. I fiddled around with the old one for a few days and got it working again so now I have a spare on hand.

I really think they are worth the money. The problem I had with the old 50 gallon conventional heater was that the incoming water supply in the winter was cold enough to sap the heat out of the water sitting in the tank. With a high-flow head, our showers were in the 10-12 minute range before it started getting too cool to be comfortable. Now it's unlimited. :)

I totaled all of our gas bills for an entire year both before and after we went tankless and the average savings is $35 per month. Even if the TK-2 had been unrepairable, it still saved me $4200 while it was installed and more than covered the cost of the new one.
 
We don't have one but a friend does and loves it. We're all electric here although we do have a propane tank for the fireplace and grill, and when our water heater goes we'll probably go to tankless.
 
When I saw the thread title and Derrick had started it, I thought he might be thinking about installing this on his Benny. :D
 
I still prefer the higher quality old style natural gas hot water heaters. 

The initial cash outlay can be great to hook up the electrics or in many cases the gas lines to tankless heaters.  I've stayed in apartments with tankless water heaters, and the noise bothered me in the night.

If you go electric on the tankless water heater, you may have half your breaker box allotted to the heater.  They use numerous 220 circuits--depending on how much water's running through it.  If every faucet in the house is used at once, the neighborhood electrical service might have a brown out.  LOL!

Natural gas is the preferred way to heat water, even if it's tankless.  Any tankless heater works best on an outside wall, as they've got to be vented to the outside.

I'm just going to stick with what I have until there's a problem.
 
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I have been debating getting a tankless, but all the installers around me (Seems strange) don't recommend them as they think they don't keep constant heat, and don't last. Buddy has one and his water temp is never Hot.
 
Installers (plumbers) don't like them cause they last forever ..... :)

When my water heater goes, tankless will be installed. I'll be happy just aquiring the floor space that pig takes up. Plus I'm tired of heating water needlessly. Especially during the winter and my garage is 40 degrees. We never run more than one thing at a time any how (piss poor water pressure) so single use will do me fine.
 
I had one installed 2 years ago.  It's a natural gas one.  The ONLY bad thing is that it takes about twice as long for the hot water to come out of the faucets.  My wife hates that.  Other than that they are awesome.  There isn't a tank to keep heated and they are so quiet...just a low pitched hum when it's running (which is ONLY when you have the hot water open at a faucet).  We have 2 year old twins.  I can literally be giving them a bath, have the washing machine going, run the dishwasher and then me take a shower and everyone has endless hot water.  Love that.  They are pricey though.  They attach to the wall so nothing is on the floor either.  I have never had an issue with them.  The guy I had install it said when they first came out no one recommended them because they had issues however even he has one because he said just in the last few years there has been major improvements with them.  The comment about the water never being hot....I sure as heck don't have that issue.  In fact, mine has a digital thermostat installed right next to it (came with the unit) so I can set the water temp to whatever I want it to be.  I have it at 135 degrees which makes my dishwasher work great.  :D   
 
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Lone_Star said:
I have been debating getting a tankless, but all the installers around me (Seems strange) don't recommend them as they think they don't keep constant heat, and don't last. Buddy has one and his water temp is never Hot.
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If they don't keep constant heat they are undersized for application. I will guarantee a quality unit will last as long or longer than a tank heater.

If his temp isn't hot, it's either set low OR again undersized, or possibly have high pressure which pushes water through too fast. If undersized water flows through too quickly and can't have enough time to heat up in the exchangers.

I hate to say it, but I've researched these pretty thoroughly and talked to the manufacturers at the Remodeling show. Their biggest customer complaint is the exact thing I stated above. People try to save a couple bucks and get one that can't keep up with the demand output then blame the unit.
 
I don't notice any difference in time for the water to heat up at the tap. There's still the same amount of copper pipe to absorb heat so it should be the same unless you have a recirculating pump on a conventional. Like Keith, the tankless I have came with a separate digital controller that allows for  temperature adjustments in 9 degree increments up to 167*.  If I want really hot water for something, it takes me all of ten seconds to open the cabinet and push the setting button. The desired temperature is at the faucet before I can walk back to it.

With regards to noise and location, the conventional heater was what made the noise. The darn thing could be heard firing up in the midddle of the night trying to keep all that water up to temp. The tankless just sits there doing nothing until you open the tap. There's not even a pilot light so no worries of it blowing out. A tankless has a cooling fan that runs for about 30 seconds after the tap is closed and that's the only time I can hear it. They can be installed anywhere a conventional water heater is placed, they just require a different classification of vent pipe. Anyone with basic plumbing skills can install one, it took me a few trips to the hardware store but if you have the skills to install a garbage disposal or dishwasher you can do one of these yourself.

As an added bonus with the switch to tankless, we gained some storage space. The heater closet now doubles as a spot for our carpet cleaner. This is the old TK-2, the TK-4 is even smaller.

 
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Regardless of where you live, I highly recommend getting additional insulation added to the intake water lines. I have two on my house that I recently built and so do 90% of my neighbors. This past winter (Carolina's) was terrible on all of our units. The water lines for all of our homes froze every night because they are on an outside wall. Different plumbing companies came by to add insulation around the units and they continued to freeze. It was a nightmare getting up first thing in the morning to use a hair drier on the water lines to warm them up to allow pressure to flow.

Other than those two weeks of cold weather, it has been great. I have a fairly decent sized house and over Christmas we ran 6 showers at the same time without losing hot water. I've never heard the hum from inside the house or have had any issues with the time it takes to get hot water to the furthest bathroom from the heaters.
 
I always wanted to go to a tankless water heater, did the research and decided when my propane gas one goes....... I'll switch. Well almost 16 yrs. later and we still have the original one. We're moving soon. Maybe in the new house..............
 
Well all these popular posts, I may have to rethink things......I need the space and the stupid 40 gallon tank takes up way to much and runs out of water (wife likes hot showers)
 
You can take a hot shower for as long as you want....you will never, ever run out of hot water with these units.....period.
 
I have a Rinnai, 10 years now and not a problem. All tankless heaters do have scale buildup inside the tubes, so it is necessary to periodically  run vinegar through the system to dissolve it. My water heater has the fittings installed, and it takes about 45 minutes once a year. If you have very soft water, or water with little or no mineral content this won't be necessary or needed for several years. I also have a Camp Chef 10L tankless heater for my Bennington!
 
Wow, didnt expect all the feedback so soon! Thanks!  Clark, that is the same brand my plumber is recommending. He was surprised at how reasonably priced some replacement parts were for it as well. Only scary thing is that they aren't in huge demand here so he doesn't stock very many parts if it broke down. Could mean a few days of cold showers!
 
We installed one a few years back and would never go back to a tank type. If you are not getting the water hot enough then you may want to check the diameter of the gas line; we had to run a larger line for the size unit (this is based on how much hot water can be used at the same time). Also someone mentioned the amount of time to get hot water, we had this problem with our tank heater too. We solved this my putting a small pump under the sink farthest from the tank. All we do is push a button and the pump moves water from the hot side to the cold side until a pre-set hot temperature is achieved. This takes about 30-40 seconds, is quiet, and wastes no water. I recommend this highly too. We push it everytime we run the washer, dishwasher, etc, saves money.
 
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