Has anybody gone tankless for their water heater?

[Gary M]

We've had our tankless water heater for about 3 years and love it. The installation can jack the price up. I'm at the stage in life where convenience is important and paying extra for something is usually worth it. Endless hot water is great.

 

[kdonnel]

Got a second quote from the people who did the plumbing rough in for the basement finish.

$1100 for traditional tank
$3200 for tankless

I could buy two traditional installs and still have money left over from the first quote.

 

[Klayfish]

Got a second quote from the people who did the plumbing rough in for the basement finish.

$1100 for traditional tank
$3200 for tankless

I could buy two traditional installs and still have money left over from the first quote.

We went through those same debates when we had our house built a little more than 4 years ago. With a family of 5 (for a while we had 6 when we had an au pair), we were always running out of hot water....showers, laundry, dishes, etc...or we had to coordinate. When we were building this house we had the same thought you just posted. A tankless is so much more expensive, we can have 2 large tanks installed for less.

However, you have to factor in costs. Hot water tanks, especially large ones, cost more money to keep the tank hot. Double that cost for two tanks. They also take up a ton of space, if that's a concern for you, a tankless unit is amazingly small. We went with the tankless and couldn't be happier. We never, ever run out of hot water. It's good enough that we can run a shower and the dishwasher at the same time. We try not to do that, but we can if we want, or we can have two people take showers at the same time. It's well worth the investment, IMO.

 

[DopeyDame]

Another tankless fan here! When we had to replace our old water heater, we initially looked into tankless because of the space issue - we have no basement, so the hot water heater was in our laundry room and just took up so much space. It's awesome to just have a little box on our wall and all the hot water we need! We did it at the same time as a lot of other construction, so unfortunately I don't really remember the cost differential between tankless and tank - there were a ton of trades we were making at the same time.
I will say that it's way more energy efficient than the hot water heater, so over time (many years, presumably), you'll probably make some or all of the money back.

 

[pl71]

We had a tankless electric water heater for ten years. It was a 2001 model, so maybe they’ve improved. We hated it so much we replaced it with a traditional tank.

Ours would get pinhole water leaks in the body every 2 or 3 years which would short out the electric panel located inside the tankless case. Replacement parts were not available locally so we had to wait for 1 to 2 weeks every time for a repair, all that time with no hot water. The company would send out a part at a time, see if that fixed the problem, then if that didn’t work would send another part. The parts would be under warranty but the labor was at our cost.

Other problems were that the water wasn’t as hot as we’d like in the winter. In warmer climates that wouldn’t be an issue. We also could not run two showers at the same time, neither would be hot enough.

 

[DLgal]

Got a second quote from the people who did the plumbing rough in for the basement finish.

$1100 for traditional tank
$3200 for tankless

I could buy two traditional installs and still have money left over from the first quote.

How much will you save over the life of the traditional tank on utilities to constantly keep that much water heated? Our utility bill is much lower with a tankless heater than it was with a traditional tank. Tankless heaters are 25-60% more energy efficient and have a longer usable lifespan (up to 20 years vs 10-15) than tanks, so over time, the tankless would likely break even or end up costing you less money. It's something you can't ignore.

 

[kdonnel]

I was not saying we would 2 get tanks. I was saying that my second quote of $1100 was $1255 cheaper then the first quote I got for a regular tank.

I have two quotes now:
Traditional tank: $1100 or $2355
Tankless same model: $3200 or $4300

So I am now deciding between a single $1100 replacement of my current tank or a $3200 switch to tankless.

 

[nkereina]

My parents just built a new house and went with tankless. They had wanted a gas 50 gallon tank first, but apparently codes in their county had changed and there was added legwork and expense to get a gas tank over an electric one. So they just decided to upgrade to the tankless. They've not run out of hot water, but have noticed it takes longer for their water to get hot, and they're in a ranch house so its not traveling to an upper floor. Not a huge deal, just something we've all noticed.

 

[soccerdad72]

My parents just built a new house and went with tankless. They had wanted a gas 50 gallon tank first, but apparently codes in their county had changed and there was added legwork and expense to get a gas tank over an electric one. So they just decided to upgrade to the tankless. They've not run out of hot water, but have noticed it takes longer for their water to get hot, and they're in a ranch house so its not traveling to an upper floor. Not a huge deal, just something we've all noticed.

That is one of the drawbacks to a tankless heater - there is no hot water being stored in a tank (obviously ), so therefore, the first shower of the day does take a minute or two in order for the water to heat up. Like you said, it's not a huge deal, just something to be considered.

 

[Klayfish]

I was not saying we would 2 get tanks. I was saying that my second quote of $1100 was $1255 cheaper then the first quote I got for a regular tank.

I have two quotes now:
Traditional tank: $1100 or $2355
Tankless same model: $3200 or $4300

So I am now deciding between a single $1100 replacement of my current tank or a $3200 switch to tankless.

Ah, got it. Makes sense. Obviously money is money, but if it's in the budget I would highly recommend tankless. It's a very good investment, one of the best options we put in our home, if not THE best.

 

[DLgal]

That is one of the drawbacks to a tankless heater - there is no hot water being stored in a tank (obviously ), so therefore, the first shower of the day does take a minute or two in order for the water to heat up. Like you said, it's not a huge deal, just something to be considered.

This is true. However, it was also true in our old house in VA with a traditional tank, during colder months when it would take quite a long time to get hot water up to the second floor through cold pipes. I used to have to turn the water on at least 3 minutes before I got in the shower. Here, it's about a minute to get hot water to the upstairs bathrooms. It's fastest to the kitchen sink, which is very close in proximity to the tankless heater that is out in the garage. The good thing is, if someone is already taking a shower, or washing clothes or dishes, the water comes out hot immediately.