Considering A Tankless Hot Water Heater (Do You Have One? Do You Recommend One?)
Matt and I need a new hot water heater. The one we have has become a real pain. The pilot light goes out regularly, and sometimes it’s a challenge to get the thing to come back on. It seems to have a mind of its own, so sometimes I can get the pilot light restarted immediately. Other times, it won’t restart for days. It always restarts eventually, though. And I’d rather do it myself, even if that means not having hot water for three or four days, than have the plumber come out every single time and charge me a fee with every single visit, especially when I’m doing the exact same process that he does to get it restarted. So far, I think the longest we’ve been without hot water is about four days, but it always comes back on eventually. But I know the day is coming when it won’t come back on at all, and I’d rather not wait around for that to happen.
Anyway, I’m tired of dealing with it. I was hoping that this one would last until we do our addition, and then we could replace it at that time. I don’t know if that’s going to work out, though.
Our current one is a standard hot water heater. I’m not quite sure how big it is, but it looks like a normal size to me. I have a large bathtub in our new bathroom, and I was concerned about the hot water heater not being able to provide enough hot water for that bathtub.
That hasn’t been a problem, though. There’s plenty of hot water to fill the tub. And I’ve never had a problem with running out of hot water for my showers.
But Matt’s showers are a different story. Matt is my husband, and he has M.S. and is in a wheelchair. He’s the reason we turned a master bedroom into a master bathroom that includes a large curbless shower. Giving him a thorough shower is quite a long process, and by the time we finish with that, and then I shower, the hot water has run out and I’m stuck taking a cold shower.
So we’re both in agreement that we need a new hot water heater, and our two options are (1) get a new hot water heater that is larger than our current one, or (2) go tankless. I’m just not sure which option I like better.
I find comfort in the fact that, as long as the pilot light is working, we have a large tank of hot water at the ready when we need it. And conversely, with a tankless water heater, there’s something unsettling to me with the idea of not having any hot water in reserve. But I do l like the smaller size, and I also like that they seem so much more efficient. Rather than having to keep a full tank of water constantly heated, it only heats water when you need hot water. That seems a lot more efficient to me. And as long as they’re working properly, you never run out of hot water during a shower.
I have actually lived with a tankless hot water heater. Both of my apartments in Turkey had tankless hot water heaters that hung on the wall in the kitchen. I remember them working just fine, as long as I didn’t let the gas run out. My hot water heaters in Turkey were not connected to a city supply of gas. Instead, they were hooked to tanks of gas, just like the tanks of gas that are used for gas grills, that were delivered to my front door periodically. As long as there was gas in the tank, the hot water heater worked wonderfully. But I did have a couple of occasions where the gas ran out mid-shower.
So that’s my only personal experience with a tankless hot water heater, and that was over 20 years ago. When we did my mom’s master bathroom remodel over a decade ago, we had a tankless hot water heater installed that is just for that bathroom. She has had a couple of problems with it, so that makes me hesitant. But heck, I’m having problems with my big tank hot water heater, so I guess it’s no different.
So I’d love to know your thoughts and experiences with tankless hot water heaters. Do you recommend them? If so, is there a specific brand you’ve had a great experience with? How do they compare to the large tank hot water heaters in your experience?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
In a rental we are staying in we have to let water run for 10 minutes before hot reaches the master shower. Not sure if that is the norm.
And that’s with a tankless hot water heater? Or just a regular hot water heater? With our large tank, it takes a while for the hot water to reach our kitchen faucet.
We put a recirculating pump in for this exact reason. In hindsight I wish we had put in a tankless hot water heater, this winter’s bills for natural gas in California tripled and would have easily paid for it. Regarding your previous post, I think the overhead heat lamp (or two) for the shower is the perfect solution.
We we have a recirculating pump on our hot water heater as well. Recirculating pump has a timer on it which allows us to heat the water and circulate it during times when we typically use hot water but not recirculate water when we’re asleep.
When we lived in Turkey over 50 years ago we also had a tankless hot water. It worked great for our family of 8. Here in the states we’ve always had a large tank heater and it’s been fine, although we’d have to wait for hot water to reach the shower. Last year we moved to a house where the previous owner had just replaced the tank with a tankless heater. It’s just the two of us now so it’s great, but during a major snow storm last year, when so many people were without power for over a week, we were able to offer our three showers to family and friends. The water stayed hot and all three showers could run without running out of hot water. That was a real plus for us.
We have had a tankless one for about 10 years now and I really like it. We changed it because it would give us more space in the garage (ours is now outside) and so we could have unlimited hot water as my husband never got warm water after the rest of the family showered/took a bath. I do enjoy that part of it very much. Ours is run on propane so we could run out of propane if we don’t keep an eye on it. We sized ours to be able to run 2 showers and dishwasher or a washer at the same time as that is common to happen around here. The part that I have found a little annoying is that we’ve had some error codes that just means we get cold water and someone just needs to press a button on a control panel to reset it. We haven’t figured out why we get it as it goes in periods. It seems to be more likely to happen in the summer so I’m guessing bugs/spider webs. Since ours is outside we do keep a hot water faucet running when it freezes here in TX.
The key really seems to be to get it sized right and I would put it indoors if possible just to not have to deal with having to have a faucet running when it freezes outside.
Tankless water heaters are very expensive, and also require maintenance. We switched from a gas water heater to an electric one a couple of years ago. The new ones are very efficient quicker water heat, and very inexpensive to operate now! Highly recommend you check them out!
I agree. Electric is much better. Of course, unless the electricity goes out for a few days… But now we have a whole house generater, so that’s not a worry anymore.
Our plumber urged us to give up our recirculating system. They are notorious, apparently, for creating pinhole water leaks over time. We have a tankless system now and we do “flush” it annually to clean it out, but that’s about five minutes and is very easy. I’ll never go back to a regular hot water heater. This thing is heaven on earth!
We’ve had a tankless hot water heater in two homes now. Given a choice, I would NOT go back to the traditional style. The tankless hot water in conveniently available on demand and you never run out of hot water. Also, you’re not paying for a tank full of water to be kept hot at all times. I don’t think you would regret making the switch. We have the Rinnai brand and haven’t had any problems, I would highly recommend it.
We also have propane Rinnai water heaters, for over 8 years in 2 homes. Absolutely love them, no wasted expense for water waiting to be used. Also have never had any problems.
I am also tankless curious. We replaced our hot water heater not long after we moved in 9 years ago. It takes several minutes for the hot water to reach the kitchen–so much that we often bring water from the laundry room. I wish we had done something different–either tankless in the kitchen or a hot water recirculating pump.
Wait. What? I’ve never heard of a hot water recirculating pump until this very moment! I had to look it up. That’s pretty nifty! I had no idea such a thing existed. I get so tired of waiting for the hot water to reach our kitchen faucet. I generally turn on the water, walk away for about three minutes, and then come back when it’s hot. It seems so wasteful, but that’s what I have to do if I want hot water. A recirculating pump is an ingenious idea!
Yes!!!! the recirculating pump is AMAZING. We have a 5000 sq ft house and we NEVER have to wait for hot water, ever. It just circulates the hot water thru the pipes all the time. Love it!
We have a construction company and a family of 8. We ourselves have a tankless hot water heater AND a recirculating pump. Just awesome!!! All the new homes are going tankless. The new tankless ones are improved and you shouldn’t have any probs using one at all. In your application seems like it would be ideal. No waiting, for water to heat up at your sinks is wonderful. Plus, plus, since we live in a cold climate our toilets don’t sweat either. Yep, go for it Kristi!! If you have any more questions we might help with please send an email although I know you research things thoroughly.
We have a recirculating hot water pump in northern Nevada. 2 degrees this morning. Hot water, NO PROBLEM. Have had this one since we moved in 11 years ago. Love it.
I have never heard of recirculating pumps either – they must not be common in Texas? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I always have to run water in the kitchen and our master bathroom sinks for SO long to get water. Maybe we need one of these too!
We have a tankless hot water heater. This house is my first time to have one. And I love it. 10/10 recommend. Here’s the one and only challenge I have: our kitchen is the farthest point in the house from the hot water heater (it’s downstairs left, kitchen is upstairs right). And it takes a couple of minutes before the hot water starts flowing. It’s not instant hot water, it’s got to warm up. Other than that- the guilt of wasting water occasionally while it heats up (I usually fill up the cats water or water the plants while it’s still cool), I recommend one. We also have a buried propane tank that a company fills every month or so – more in the winter.
Love Love Love my tankless water heater!! never runs out!!! with large family it is perfect..
I have tankless hot water in my current home (built in 2021-2022, so a new fixture) and I had it in my last house. Both of mine have been gas powered, hooked to the gas in my house.
Pros:
1. shower as long as you want to!
2. Everything that uses hot water can run at one time
Cons:
1. if the power goes out, I don’t have hot water. Its on an electric switch.
2. I don’t have a recirculating pump, so it takes a while to get hot water to flow. The faster you run the water, the faster it gets hot, so its not as noticeable on the shower, where I turn it up to full pressure, but when what I need is a 1/2 cup of warm water for a recipe, its faster and less wasteful to just microwave the water.
I love it! I won’t voluntarily go back to a regular tank water heater. I lived for way to long with having to plan out my day based on who/what got hot water. So far, I haven’t noticed a big jump in price overall – my electricity+gas+water is about the same as it was with a regular water tank. If I had to do it again though, I would get the recirculating pump. It keeps enough hot water in the pipes that you don’t have to wait, so far less wasteful.
We’re in the country and have propane tankless. Runs the radiant flooring as well. LOVE it. We live in a barn with polished concrete slab though. There’s no way I would live on slab flooring in the PNW so my situation is different. Last year it ran about $1000. Thats for cooking, dryer heat/cooling , clawfoot tub and long hot showers. Absolutely everything except the fridge and led lights. I do hang my clothes weather permitting.
Hi Kristi!
We went tankless 3 years ago and it has been an absolute joy ever since. With two teen girls we used to run out of hot water constantly but no more. It takes a few minutes to reach our master bath BUT it’s two levels up and on the other side of the house. Kitchen and powder room has almost instant hot water. I can’t remember what brand we have, I just remember the plumber telling us that the ones Home Depot sells online won’t hold up to the extreme cold here in Alberta so we had to factor that in. I 100% recommend going tankless.
Hey! I’m in Alberta too!
Love our tankless! I love that we can have the washer running a hot load, the dishwasher, and still bathe or shower at the same time! No need to plan out the hot water! I would highly recommend!
Highly recommend tankless water heaters. We have two in a 3000 sf home. Have had ours for 7 years and will never go back to a standard water heater. Takes a couple of minutes to heat up, but that’s nothing compared to the endless hot water you’ll have.
Rinnai brand.
Installed a whole house natural gas tankless system four years ago and will NEVER go back to a big, bulky, space eating tank. Hot water is on demand and only takes a minute for the water to be hot in any of the four baths, kitchen and laundry room area of my home. Love it!
Tankless water heaters are standard in Europe- mine in the UK and Germany were connected to the house so no external gas tanks. I LOVE them and wish so much that the US ran off them! I definitely recommend it. You’ll never run out of hot water and your utility bills will be so much better. Plus better for the planet. Just don’t expect a warm recommendation from a US plumber. I don’t know if they make more money off the big tanks or are generally ignorant to tankless systems but when you mention one they (in my experience) squish they’re faces up like they just ate a fart. Good luck!
Hahaha!! Thanks for a funny boost to my morning 🙂
We’ve had ours for about three years now and have been very happy with it. It takes about 30 seconds for the hot water to reach our shower or kitchen sink and we’ve never had an issue with temperature fluctuations. We do live in Florida so we don’t have an issue with our water lines freezing. We went with the tankless option after our big water heater split while we were gone. There are just two of us so we don’t have an issue with providing hot water to multiple sinks/showers at the same time. It was easy to install – hubby installed it pretty quickly, as I recall. It was a good option for us.
We have tankless, and we love it.
7 years now with no issues at all. We can all come home from the beach, throw the swimsuits and towels in the washing machine, run the dishwasher, and all 4 of us jump in showers, and it has no problem keeping everything hot.
It does take a minute or two for the main shower to get warm, but that’s because it’s the furthest from the source. It would be the same issue with a tank or tankless system.
I haven’t done the math or study, but from what I hear, tankless is more energy and cost efficient too.
Am I missing something? It seems that having a recirculating system would use more energy and thus, cost more than occasionally having to run water for a couple minutes until it was hot.
The thing with a recirculating pump is you can time it to your needs. Off when everyone is asleep, and on when you think you’ll need it. I moved from Ohio to Az in 2019 and never heard of them before. By biggest problem is my (very thrifty) Fella doesn’t want to run it past 10 am so I have to run water in my kitchen to get it warm; with our water issues I just use cool water
I’ve had great experience with tankless, as well. But I wanted to add that you can get a mini-tankless for the kitchen sink. A lot of people have these in California, where you really don’t want to waste water waiting to get hot water at the sink. So you install a mini-tankless on the kitchen sink’s hot water line and you do get pretty much instant hot water. They make ones that fit under the sink (https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Electric-Mini-Tank-Heater-2-5-Gallon/dp/B0148O658Y?th=1). If you’re on a tankless, I don’t think you’d want a recirculator as that would keep the big tankless running all the time to keep the recirculating water hot. Just a thought.
Tankless is totally normal in new housing in the UK – we call them combi boilers because they run the wet central heating we normally use at the same time. Here they can be run at a lower temperature than system (tanked) boilers because there’s no risk of Legionnaires’ Disease, which is better environmentally too. I’m generally quick in the shower but my son can fall asleep under the spray (at least I assume that’s what’s happening) and he hasn’t complained.
I’m also curious about tankless water heater, so I’m following. We were told you have to have a soft water conditioner installed to have a tankless water heater. Is this not true?
I don’t believe this to be true. You have the same scaling with either type but I would think the tankless water heater wouldn’t be affected as much since the water doesn’t set. It is heated and used immediately.
When we installed a tankless in our ADU, we added a 3M filter, as recommended by several reviews. It’s easy to pop out the filters for replacement. The heater also had instructions for flushing out the system with vinegar annually, to remove scale, but this was much less trouble with the filter catching most of the scale first.
We had a tankless before we moved and it was okay but I wasn’t in love. We wasted a lot of water waiting for hot water to reach any of the sinks, tubs or showers in the house. The water had to run for a minimum of 5 minutes.
So when we needed to replace the hot water tank in our current house we opted for a larger standard heater. If we’re gone for an extended period of time we just turn the temp down.
I was going to replace my hot water heater in Texas with a tankless but the installation cost was quite high and because I knew I would be moving within 5 years and I lived alone the cost just didn’t seem worth it to me.
Because you have no intentions of selling your home , I would get some estimates to see if this is something you want to spend your money on now or not. Perhaps see if a plumber can find out why you keep having the problem with your current tank and get it fixed if possible and then just save up for the tankless . I was quoted $2000 just for installation due to water and gas lines but yours may not cost that much. My tankless estimate all in was almost $3400 compared to just replacing my hot water heater with a larger tank at $650. Of course I have no idea how much I would have saved on gas but again I live alone so never ran out of hot water.
We have a natural gas one which I love. My husband doesn’t like waiting the couple of minutes for it to get hot and there is a waste of water waiting. I think the electric ones have special considerations such as 220V. I would recommend it and also you can get a flash one for under your kitchen sink if you want immediate water there.
I don’t have one but my friend does because she has a big pretty tub like you now have and wanted nice hot water. She said 2 things: if you want one and they are expensive, and do not
want to ruin the warranty, it must be installed by a licensed plumber who has had specific training on these and 2) a licensed electrician has to be on sight also who is trained to work along with the plumber. It is also installed outside so whatever sinks or faucets are closest to this outside unit get the hot water faster.
We never had them installed outside. They were usually in a utility closet. Are you thinking of a heat pump? We built and rented rentals. Always put in by plumber. They were warranted as we had to have a defective one replaced. No problem.
We had a gas Rinnai and absolutely loved it. Never ran out of hot water. Sadly, we moved and didn’t have access to gas.
We were in rental buss. For 35 + yrs. We had success with tankless waterheaters but most renters were skeptical of them. Used in homes over $1200 per month. We don’t have one. Next time heater is out, use sandpaper to clear carbon off that end. Works all the time for us.
Just a note about your current water heater, have you tried cleaning the flame sensor. It’s fairly easy and if it’s dirty it will cause the flame to go out. I’ve had that happen and cleaned it off and no problem since. Cheaper than a new water heater:)
I bought a new build home last year and all of the new homes have tankless water heaters. As others have said, it does take a few minutes to get hot but you never run out. I was barely able to get a single shower out of the old standard water heater at my previous house. The water heater takes up very little space and hangs on a wall in the garage. My son had a recirculating pump on his and said his gas bill was really high from keeping that water hot and circulating through all of the pipes.
We replaced our traditional water heater with tankless a couple years ago. Zero regrets. We’ve never run out of hot water. My only “complaint” is that it can take a couple minutes for the hot water to reach the shower, but it’s on the second floor of a 2-story house and the tank is in the basement. Small price to pay for never having to take a cold shower.
And a bonus — there’s no sediment build up in a tankless heater like there is in a traditional tank. If you’ve ever seen the inside of a traditional tank at the end of it’s life, you’d never use one again. Yuck!
We used an on-demand gas (LPG) water heater for decades and what I love about it was the temp control was in the kitchen, so I could dial it up for dishwashing and then down for showering etc. No chance of any child being scalded. They are a joy to use but boy do they go through the gas! But we have recently needed to replace it and have gone with the recommended (here in Australia) heat pump water heater. LPG is expensive and we are all being encouraged to use electric appliances again – given all our sunshine, a huge amount of homes are now solar powered, so it is very useful in meeting our climate targets. The heat pump is soooooo cheap to run. And it is lovely still having hot water when the power goes off. I totally disagree with the comments that on-demand is good for the planet or cheap. It isn’t, since you are often heating water using prime-time power. Aussie HWS operate on tariff 33, which is off-peak. But on-demand sure is convenient and sometimes one is prepared to pay for that convenience. Me, I’ve got used to paying a few dollars a quarter for power instead of hundreds of dollars a quarter for gas, so I won’t be going back.
We have a tankless now and love it. House full of guests for the weekend and never run out!! However, we can’t use one in our cabin..not enough water pressure—we were disappointed we had to go with a tank.
We’ve had a Rinnai for a few years. Love it. No problems except waiting for the hot water.
We built a new house 5 years ago….2600 sq. feet. We went with a tankless water heater and we love it. It is much more expensive than a regular one though. Ours is in a cabinet in the laundry room . On the other side of the house, you do have to wait a little bit for hot water, but we never run out. Good luck with your decision!
We have had a tankless for 5 years and are completely satisfied. There has been a savings in our electricity bill as well.
The one drawback I must mention is the lack of hot water during a power outage. With the traditional tank, you have a reserve of hot water that can see you through several hours of power outage. Not so with tankless which heats water on demand. For us, this has been only a minor inconvenience once in 5 years.
We have tankless hot water that runs off our oil furnace, which is older now, but its efficiency is a higher rate than new oil furnaces. We’ve had it for 36 years and it is the bane of my existence! I have a painful stiff muscle- joint disorder and a hot soak really helps, more than pain meds. But I can’t fill my ridiculously undersized tub. I get about 2″ of hot water. Then I have to wait 10 minutes for it to warm up again and I get another 2″. And so on.
Showering is also a challenge. There is a constant change in water temperatures that requires I step out of the water stream and readjust and wait for it to get through the handheld hose. And if the house thermostat calls for heat while using the hot water, forget it. You’re getting a very chilly spray. For waaaaay longer than 10 minutes. It totally ruins my day. Husband refuses to get a hot water heating tank, but installed a switch to turn off the thermostats while I’m in the shower. If I can remember to use it, it helps. But its downstairs and the bathroom is upstairs. Its also impossible to get a nice hot washer tub for laundry too.
The newer on the wall tankless heaters are similar to my shower experience. I was going to a hair salon that got one and getting my hair rinsed was such an uncomfortable ordeal. It ran HOT then COLD over and over. I stopped going there because of it.
So I clearly vote for a new tank, asap!
If you get one, I’ll be looking for the information you discover in your search.
We replaced a very old propane water heater with a 50 gal. one six years ago when we moved to Central Texas. Very happy with it, but our house is small and nothing’s too far from the water heater in the hall. BTW-during the Big Freeze in 2020, it was nice having a full tank of hot water during the rolling blackouts we had. We had hot water all the time and when the power came on, the tank filled back up and kept on heating up no matter if we had electricity or not. Something to think about.
A tankless system was just too expensive to install and complicated for us old folks to use. A friend has a tankless system on an “exterior” wall that froze during “Snowmageddon” two winters ago and caused all sorts of problems. She was adamant the location on an outside wall was what contributed to it freezing. They had trouble getting it fixed and they were without hot water for a while. Not a lot of folks can fix them I guess.
My sister has a tankless water heater in an upstairs primary suite they added and seem to like it okay. They’ve kept the regular hot water heater for the rest of the house, though.
Seems like most of the people who have tankless systems like them, so they must be a good choice for those who are interested.
Do your research. You’ll be happy with either type of water heater!
I talked to my plumber about this exact dilemma last year. Years ago (15-20) he had told me to stay away from them. Now he recommends them and has one in his own home. He said they’ve come a long way in the last several years and, if you can afford it, they’re the way to go.
We have a regular tank style in the house and swear next time it needs replaced (we are on #3 in 21 years) that I’ll go tankless.
We have one in my husbands shop. Installed in 2008 or maybe before then. It was one from Lowe’s that isn’t supposed to last longer than 3-5 years according to the local plumbers. We’ve had a valve issue once but found it an easy replacement. It’s amazing for showers. It’s not instant hot because it takes a bit to ignite but it does make the hottest and longest showers you could ever want.
We only just learned we are supposed to use vinegar annually to clean the system but ours is still working great after all these years of not doing it. I’m sure we’ve got a lot of scale and hard water build up.
You might consider getting a mini tank for under your kitchen sink. They are around $100 and would give you the instant hot water without wasting gallons.
We live in a 100 year old 2 story American foursquare in Iowa. We’ve had our electric tankless hot water heater for over 5 years and I love it. Our tankless is in the basement and the main bathroom is 2 stories above it. I typically turn the shower on hot, then put in my contacts and then get undressed before getting in the shower and the water is usually hot enough that I turn it down. If I’m the first person in the morning to use any hot water that day, it may take up to 2 minutes to have hot, but if any other hot water was recently used anywhere in the house, then hot water arrives at the furthest point from the hot water heater within 30-60 seconds. I don’t think our power bill went up at all when we switched from tank to tankless. One noticeable issue is that when we are pulling a lot of energy (i.e. using a ton of hot water from multiple sources, like when someone showering, we are washing clothes on hot and we turn the sink on for hot water in our kitchen) we can see our neighbor’s outdoor security lights flicker. It’s pretty bizarre. We’ve shown our and electrician and they simply don’t understand how our draw could impact the neighbor’s lights, but it totally does and it’s pretty weird. Thankfully the neighbor hasn’t noticed!
When I lived in a condo in Caracas, Venezuela, we put a tankless natural gas water heater on the kitchen wall. We never had any maintenance problems, and I loved it! This was a long time ago, so I’d think they’d be even better today.
Since you live in Texas where natural gas is cheaper, I would go the cheap route. replace the tank with a new gas one. They all seem to come with temp set at 120 F so kids don’t get severely burned. (Say thanks to the Feds who mandated this!)
I suspect you are capable of not burning yourself or Matt! Set the temp to 140 F. You will use less hot water from the tank because you are diluting it with cold water. This is also the temp needed to sanitize linens, etc.
If it’s already set for 140 F, then you need to consider a larger tank. Most homes have a 50 or 60 gal tank.
The only way to tell the set temp is to take the little face plate off and look.
I have thought about it, and the one reason I didn’t do it a few years ago (besides the cost, and the fact it was late on a Saturday when mine started leaking) was even with a gas hot water heater, you still need electricity for it to work. We had an extended power outage a few years ago, and the one bright side was that we could still take hot showers. This may not still be the case.
Hi Kristi, I think that a tankless water heater is the way to go. I have had one for 20 years and it has been almost trouble free. Once in a while, the pilot gets blown out but it is not hard to relight. There is always hot water when I need it and it is the most economical water heater out there. Sorry that I can’t remember the brand that I have.
My husband installed one in our previous house. I liked it. It was gas. It was at the opposite end of the house from the bathrooms and to combat running the water for 10 minutes he installed a recirculating pump that we turned on first. I don’t know how it works but we never had to let the water run. We could run dishwasher, washing machine and take a shower and never run out of hot water. He did the cleaning to it that was recommended by the manufacturer. If we didn’t have to spend a bundle to run a new gas line we would put one in this house.
I rarely read every comment but I’m so interested in everyone’s experience with tankless. I thought about it about 15 yrs ago in my Ohio home but ended up getting a regular gas water tank. It was considerably cheaper.
Fast forward to 2023 and me and my Fella are considering our options. I’ve never lived in a slab built home in S Arizona, and in winter it takes 8-10 min for the water in the kitchen to get Luke warm ( we also have a recirculating pump ). Then in summer we never have really cold water since the pipes are all under the slab. I think if you get a tankless you should get the best and have a licensed plumber install it who knows what he’s doing. I’d also have the recirculating pump added; my biggest gripe is Az is running out of water and my thrifty Fella doesn’t have it running past 10 am. I refuse to waste water so I use cool water doing dishes, the ones that don’t go in the dishwasher.
I have a feeling we’ll end up with a traditional big tank; it sits in our laundry area along with the water softener tanks and washer & dryer. So I’d love to get a tankless. I’m following this thread closely.
We have a tankless water heater. We have hot water on demand. It is hanging on the wall in the laundry room on our basement level. It takes less than 15 seconds approximately to get hot water upstairs in the kitchen and in either of two bathrooms upstairs, There are no concerns about running out of hot water. We can each take a shower at the same time in each bathroom. We have had to reset it twice and it is only pushing a button. It’s been great and we LOVE it. We really like the fact that when we are not at home, it isn’t running to keep the water in the tank hot. You do need to clean it (decalcify it) once a year. Since we have a whole house water filter it helps keep it cleaner and they told my husband he could get away with cleaning it every two years. This year makes 4 years since we had it installed. And it is quiet. A space saver because it is on the wall and not on the floor. We love it. Highly recommend it.
We had a Rinnai for about 10 years until it developed a leak. We replaced it with a Navien. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT. I hope I never have to live without another one. I have washed clothes, run the dishwasher AND taken a shower all at the same time and am thoroughly satisfied. Hope this helps.
Get a tankless water heater…they are wonderful. And I would not have a water heater which relies on a pilot light anyway….Electric for me. Read all the reviews which I am sure you do anyway before buying one, They are costly to install but well worth it.
I totally think you should go with a tankless water heater because my sister is considering that option! That way I can let her know your experience and you can be a guinea pig! Haha
We have had a Rinnai tankless water heater for about 12 years. I absolutely love it. We have 3 full baths, a dishwasher and a washing machine. We can run all of them at the same time and never lose hot water. It is true you have to run the water for about 20-30 seconds before you get hot water, but there is no reservoir tank being constantly heated. It lowered our electric bill considerably. However, our water bill went up a bit because it is sooooo tempting to take a long shower when you never run out of hot water.
We have a technician service it once a year which keeps it under warranty. Last year, we had a problem with the water turning cold. The tech came out and spent 20 minutes cleaning something that normally doesn’t need it, then he said if that doesn’t work it would be replaced completely under the warranty – 12 years later! I will never go back to a regular water heater.
Amazon has hot water faucets around $40.00 and they also have instant Hot electric water heater shower head. Instant Hot Electric Water Heater 5400W 110V Electric Shower Head Faucet 3 Gear Adjustable Fast Heating Bath Shower Heater https://a.co/d/dxK0y8D. I tried to paste it, but didn’t work.
I’ve had a tankless in my last two houses and I would not go back. My biggest thing is not having to tell company how long their showers have to be so everyone can get a hot one. It doesn’t matter how many are going at one time, I can use the sun while a shower is going, and can run a shower for as long as I want. I haven’t noticed a money savings in this house because there are just too many variables, but in my last (smaller) house where I lived alone, it was quite a significant money savings per month.
*sink!
Hello Kristi,
I can only speak from my experience. When I lived in NY, we had a very large blue Amtrol water heater. It was great and we never ran out of hot water. When I moved to SC and bought a house it came with an electric tankless water heater. I did not love it, in the winter I did not always enjoy a hot shower, but it was what I had. When that heater finally died, I started to look for a new water heater. It had to be tankless because the house is very small and had no space for a conventional water heater. It was suggested that I get gas, but because I already had all the wiring for electric, I decided to go that route. I purchased an Eco Smart electric tankless water heater. It is fantastic. I have hot water on demand, whenever I need it, summer or winter. I like very hot showers. However, one thing that I found out is that in the winter because the pipes are cold, in order for the water to be hot for a shower, I must raise the temperature to its highest setting which is 145 degrees. In the summer I keep it at 125. This January, we had some very cold weather. I heard of people who had tankless gas heaters, that their pipes froze and they had no hot water. Gas heaters must be installed outside. Thankfully I had no problems. So, from my experience with tankless heaters, is to get a quality one. I think that the one that came with my house was just not a very good one. I had to have it fixed a couple of times and it was never great. And it was fairly new when I bought the house. As for gas heaters, because they must be installed outdoors, they are nothing like the ones in Europe. I also remember those, and as a small child I used to be really scared at the sound they made whenever you turned the hot water on. I believe they are a lot quitter now. And thank you for all your detailed posts on how you do everything. You are very talented and it is a pleasure to learn from you, even though I mostly appreciate and not necessarily do. All the best in your search.