Tankless water heater

[hippiechick]

Our current water heater is leaking. We cannot afford to do anything about that until we get our tax return (So I've got everything ready so when our W2s and home loan stuff comes in, I'll get it sent in fast.)

I'm considering going tankless but I'm trying to figure out if they're really worth it.

Here's some basic info:

We have natural gas.

My house is very small, less than 1,000 square feet. We have one bathroom, then the kitchen sick and the washer (and I only ever wash diapers on hot.)

We do not have a lot of space. The current water heater is in a very small closet in the bathroom.

I am terrified of the pilot light!!

Can any of you help me weigh the pros and cons?

[LearningMama]

:popcorn

[knitlove]

Our apartment has a tankless and I love it! it also runs our base bord heaaters.

[Rabbit]

We had a tankless overseas. It was right by the kitchen sink, but all the hot water for the two bathrooms in the apartment also went through it. It was bliss to have limitless hot water.

You have a pilot light going regardless, unless somehow your current water tank is entirely electric.

[Quiteria]

Some gas water heaters have electric ignitions instead of continuous pilot lights.

This one doesn't need electricity or a pilot light!
http://www.bosch-climate.us/products-bosch-thermotechnology/gas-tankless-water-heaters/residential-water-heaters/therm-520-hn.html

[TestifyToLove]

Our brand-new house has tankless. We talked about going tankless for years in our last house and never took the plunge. Two weeks in and I wish I had.

The pro is that 10 people and we NEVER run out of hot water. The con is that I have to convince E that this does NOT mean she can take two hour long showers per day. Running out of hot water has always been her flag that it was the time to get out of the shower.

I don't actually know where the tankless is located at this point. I know where the control panel it, in the closet right by the downstairs bathroom. I can set the max temp on the control panel myself which makes it super convenient. I've had gas heaters that had pilot lights for years so it doesn't bother me to know about it.

[JoannaV]

Gas tankless heaters are awesome. My student house of 10 had two tankless systems. These were also providing the hot water for the radiators/heating. Endless hot water. :faint

I don't know anything about the cost comparison though. And of course that depends on energy prices in your area also.

Do you currently have small problems with running out of hot water? Or do you somehow magically not have that problem? :giggle I would love to be able to wash diapers whilst washing my hair leisurely and then immediately afterwards wash the dishes whilst DH showers!!

[SilverMoon]

My husband has ran the electric for a few tankless water heaters (the electrical kind). We've talked about doing it to our house in the future because there really isn't room for a water heater in the utility room.
For one of the heaters my husband helped install was for a family of 9; they absolutely loved it.

[hippiechick]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I have been so back and forth. One day I'll read something that makes me think I'll just stick with a tank and the next day I'm convinced tankless is best.

There are only three people in our house. I grew up on well water so I've never been able to run a load of clothes while taking a shower anyway because of pressure. Hubby thinks I'm weird because I'll wait on the washer to fill up now before jumping in the shower. So we don't really run hot water at multiple locations at a time.



Some gas water heaters have electric ignitions instead of continuous pilot lights.

This one doesn't need electricity or a pilot light!
http://www.bosch-climate.us/products-bosch-thermotechnology/gas-tankless-water-heaters/residential-water-heaters/therm-520-hn.html

I've seen several that don't need a pilot light, but this is the first I've seen that wouldn't need electricity too! Thanks!

[cobluegirl]

We put in a tankless in our house loved it!

[twoplustwo]

We just bought a new hot water heater (today). I talked to our plumber, our handyman, and my very knowledgeable about home stuff BIL about hot water heaters. And any random mom waiting for choir pick up who wanted to talk hot water heaters. :giggle

We considered tankless. One reason we did not was the whole can't use in multiple rooms mentioned above (but that doesn't sound like a problem for you).

Another reason is our plumber said they no one stocks the parts for them. So if you have a repair you might be out days of hot water as opposed to a tank where you can repair or replace in a day. He says he sees more repairs for the tankless than a regular kind, especially if you get the non-hardware store brands and those would still be cheaper than a tankless. Plus maintenance of tankless is higher than tank.

In the end we just couldn't justify the cost right now (we just replaced our dishwasher last month). To replace exactly what we have including tank, install & removal of the old it is $429.

We did end up going with the hardware store over the plumber's recommended brand. We decided on just the cheapest option right now for a variety of reasons. :)

[knitlove]

We can use more than one sorce of hot water at a time. if you are in this shower and the heaters kick on you notice because the temp drops a bit for a minit but it isn't no hot water and it gets back up to temp quickly same way when one of us starts washing dishes in the kitchen. we have much less issue with multiple thing getting hot water here with our takeless than we did in our house with a tak heater.

---------- Post added at 08:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 PM ----------

I ought to add that from the looks of it (we rent but the book to the heaternis here and I have read it ) our tankless heater is explisitly designed for heatinging and domestic hot water. There is a setting for when we use the heat and one for when we won't be needing heat.

- I am on my tablet so my spellcheck went away, I hope you can read it

[BriansLovie]

We love ours!

[TestifyToLove]

We're able to have multiple uses at once. I don't know how many it could support but thus far we've had two or three going a couple of times.

[hippiechick]

What was instillation like? For any of you who have natural gas anyway...

[Auroras mom]

We like ours, but it has its issues. Ours is at the front corner of our house, in the garage, so to get hot water to the back of the house takes a long time, which wastes water, unless I am running a bath. There are pumps you can get that resolve that problem, I have since learned, but our builder did not install them. It also seems to be either super hot or not hot enough, (and never just right) but that may be because we havwe it set at 120°F, and it should be at 115°F, I think.