Tankless Hot Water Heaters

kaydee50 · ‎02-07-2011

The kind that is supposed to provide hot water on demand. Does anyone have one of these?? Pros/cons???

Tigriss · ‎03-12-2010

My mother and father have one. They put it in after their traditional electric one died. The new one is gas. They love it, especially my mother that takes 30 minute showers. It doesn't use that much gas as it only burns and heats when water is requested, so no use of fuel to heat water that is just sitting there. The same with the electric ones.

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

@kaydee50 We installed one in our last house almost 12 years ago; VERY few people in the US had them and even FEWER knew what they were or how to install them. Long story as to why we wanted one but we did; NO PLUMBER we called had any knowledge of them or experience installing. No one at Home Depot either. Lowes.....by sheer chance a contractor was there when I spoke to the sales rep (who knew NOTHING about them), The contractor had installed them in his house, his sisters' house, his parents house and the first one was his in-laws who had moved here from....Japan. These are the norm there and they wanted one, so.....he educated himself and then his staff. Went through Lowes since he was one of the companies they out-sourced work to.

The BEST THING EVER. There are 2 types: residential and commercial (unless that has changed). Get the commercial: you are able to get higher temps with it. The residential does NOT go high enough to kill germs, sheets, towels, etc after the flu/illness are washed....germs will survive. You can easily dial up and down the temps. How great is it? 3 showers, dishwasher, washing machine and a tub ALL being used at the same time and hot water NEVER ends.

We paid then $4500 for it. Worth EVERY penny. We had a boiler for heat, gas for everything else.

Our house now is all electric. Doing the numbers, it simply isn't financially smart to have one, sadly.

Go for it if you have gas!!!!

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

We are seriously looking at this option when our current heater goes or our next home!

We have a HUGE HW heater due to the size of the house and it is on the OTHER end of the house in the lowest level- so it takes a LONG time to get hot water in our master bath. It is a sin how much water we waste daily!!!

The only upside is several people can shower for at least 30 mins, and I can run a load of landry in hot water and run the dish washer and NOT run out of water.

The last time our pilot light went out on the heater we still had hot water for 3 days!

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

I have a quick recovery, tankless water heater after several failures with a conventional heater. Love it !

One thing, friends had one on an outside wall and it froze??? So, ours is in the garage on an inside wall.

Highly recommend.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

coffee drinker · ‎03-21-2010

I have a hate/love relationship with our gas tankless water heater. Love it because the utility bill is down and hate it because I thought all I'd have to do is turn on the hot tap and I'd have hot water instantly. Not so. The tap runs for about a minute or less before hot water comes out. Sort of a waste, IMO, but the bill is less.

Skyegirl21 · ‎03-20-2010

If you have hard water which causes tons of mineral deposits and buildup, the buildup will interfere with your on-demand hot water.

This was the case for us in CT. Water is thankfully more plentiful here, and we have a well, so cost isn’t a factor. We needed a tank and thank goodness someone figured out why we had hot water for only 5 minutes during showers, because of the tankless heater. - Not good, very bad.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

Water is expensive in Colorado. So installing a tankless heater would not be economical if I have to run the water until it got hot. That's just not going to happen for me. I am super conservative when it comes to natural resources...especially our water.

Tigriss · ‎03-12-2010

@SilleeMeewrote:
Water is expensive in Colorado. So installing a tankless heater would not be economical if I have to run the water until it got hot. That's just not going to happen for me. I am super conservative when it comes to natural resources...especially our water.

I don't remember who said it takes theirs a half minute to minute, but my parent's is new, and doesn't need that. Theirs is gas. Ask around your area to see what is offered and if they have any issues. It generally saves water and electricity. Quality install has much to do with it.

Allegheny · ‎03-19-2010

I have thought about having a tankless hot water heater for years. I knew the initial cost was higher than a traditional tank style, but I still wanted one.

However, when I learned our well water could/would cause damage to the unit my hopes were dashed.