Struggling With The Hot Water Heater Decision (Standard vs. Tankless)
I know this isn’t a fun topic, and I’m as anxious as y’all are to get to the pretty stuff in our bedroom suite, but I’d love your input on this. As you know, if you’ve been following this project, my plan is to turn our current guest bathroom into a storage closet sooner than later. And the half bathroom in my studio will become our main guest bathroom.
When we bought the house, the sunroom was just a huge, open, and kind of awkward room. I initially thought I could salvage it, but I soon realized that that wasn’t an option because it doesn’t have an appropriate floor. The floor in here is just layers of plastic, particle board, more plastic, and commercial carpet placed over concrete that I’m assuming used to be a patio. So with the room not having a good foundation, there was no need in spending money to repair anything above that foundation.
But it was, at least, a good temporary location for washer and dryer hookups, which the house didn’t originally have. And it was a good temporary location for a hot water heater since the original location was at the far end of the garage, as far removed as it could have been from all of the actual sources of water inside the house. Since all of the plumbing had to be redone anyway to get rid of the old galvanized steel pipes that were so corroded that they would only let a trickle of water through, we went ahead and had the hot water heater moved to a much more centralized location, and the only location available at the time was the corner of the sunroom, which happens to be just on the other side of the hallway bathroom. You can see where the original window was in the hallway bathroom above the washer and dryer.
Little did I know that that “temporary” solution for both of those would last for 12 years. But now, my washer and dryer finally have a new (and much prettier) home in my walk-in closet.
And after 12 years of dreaming about the day that I can tear down the room that is (almost jokingly) referred to as “the sunroom”, our current hot water heater is the last remaining fixed element that is preventing us from being able to tear down that room.
Don’t get me wrong. The room is filled to the brim with stuff. But it’s almost all stuff that I can either get rid of because I won’t need it anymore (i.e., stuff that came out of the hallways and guest bedroom), or stuff that will eventually be relocated to my workshop once I get it organized.
And that just leaves the hot water heater as the final fixed element in the room that prevents me from taking a bulldozer to this room.
As I said, the new location for the hot water heater will be what is now the hallway bathroom, which is just on the other side of the wall where it’s located now. And that bathroom looks like this for now…kind of. This is the most recent picture I have, which I took when I was planning to do a little makeover in here with new tile, new shower curtain, and new wallpaper. That makeover never fully materialized, and in hindsight, I’m so thankful that I didn’t waste time and money on that makeover. I can hold on to everything I planned to use in here (and store the quartz countertop) to use in the future guest bathroom when we build the addition.
And this room will just be a storage room where I can keep Matt’s equipment, other household items that I need to store (i.e., vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner, etc.). I’ll also have the scuttle hole to the crawl space underneath the house put in here. And then, it will be the new home of the hot water heater.
I’ve already spoken to my contractor about my plans for this room. I told him that I would do all of the tear out, and then I need them to terminate all of the plumbing, do the drywall, cut the scuttle hole to the crawl space, and then install the new hot water heater.
I had been planning on a tankless water heater, but because these are all interior walls (although the one back wall will temporarily be an exterior wall until the addition is built), that means that my only option is an electric hot water heater. I didn’t think much of it. I’ve heard great things about electric tankless hot water heaters. But the one problem is that electric hot water heaters require some pretty heavy wiring and lots of space in the breaker box. And we’re running out of space in our breaker box. He seemed to think we could make it work, but when it comes to electrical stuff, the whole “we can probably make it work” thing doesn’t leave me feeling very confident.
So now, I’m having second thoughts about trying to make a tankless hot water heater work. I really don’t have a problem with a standard tank hot water heater. Our current one is gas, and since the line gas line is already right there, it seems to me that it would be cheaper and so much easier to just move it to the other side of the wall and be done with it. But I’d love to know your thoughts, especially from those of you who have had both a standard tank hot water heater and an electric tankless hot water heater. Is the electric tankless really that much of an upgrade? Is it worth possibly having to upgrade our electrical panel?
The one other option is that I could plan on an exterior tankless gas hot water heater. But I’ve given this so much thought, and I can’t figure out where it would even go. I would need to be a location that’s kind of central to all of the plumbing in the house. And, unfortunately, it can’t go on the back anywhere because there will be that interim between tearing down the sunroom and building the addition. Obviously, we can’t live without hot water for an unspecified amount of time between when we tear down the sunroom and build the addition. So that would leave the side of the house with the master bedroom and bathroom, which is where the exterior condenser unit for our HVAC is located. It’s also where our exterior electrical panel is located, so that might be an issue.
The only other location I can think of would be in the area by the breakfast room windows, but I don’t love the idea of it being placed anywhere on the front of our house, even if it is in that area that is set back from the front porch and the front of my studio.
It seems like it would be so much easier and less stressful to just put it in the hallway storage closet and be done with it. But that location makes me lean towards having a standard gas hot water heater. Ugh. I just don’t know, and this is one of those decisions I wish someone else would make for me. 😀
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.
I don’t have a tankless water heater but I’ve used them before in short-term rentals and can’t tell an appreciable difference from our gas water heater (that I’ve never had run cold on me even when the dishwasher and/or washing machine are running while someone takes a shower). The clicking in the walls is also a little disconcerting to me but I’d probably get over it if we lived with one long term.
We contemplated upgrading to a tankless as well, as everyone raves about how efficient they are. However, a friend of mine installed one in her new build last year, and she said it has significantly raised her electric bill, which I had not heard. Then, when I started asking other people who I knew had one, I heard the same thing. I have no advice on where to install it elsewhere, and I realize it’s just you and Mat, so maybe not an issue for a family of 2 vs. a family of 6, but another thing to keep in mind. Have you spoken to an electrician about whether you really have room in your panel? Or what an upgrade to your panel might cost? Just trying to help cover all the bases!
Since the gas water heater would be the easiest solution, I would go with that. We have a propane tankless water heater as we live in the country and there is no gas service here. The wonderful thing about a tankless water heater is ENDLESS HOT WATER. I had both a son and husband who wanted ENDLESS hot showers. Without the tankless water heater, I had to juggle showers, dishwasher and laundry. However, there are two of you, so a regular gas water heater should be quite sufficient for your needs. Make it easy on yourself and choose the practical solution. Also, regular water heaters cost much less than the tankless variety. More money for another fun project!
This is our experience when we installed one on the exterior of our North Carolina house in the 90s. It was electric though. The first plumbers we called wanted to install it inside with venting. When my husband picked up the unit at Ferguson, the sales guy told him to get a second opinion on the install from a different plumber who did a lot of them at the time and we were so grateful for that tip, that’s how it ended up outside. It gave us great service the rest of our years in that house
We have a tankless hot water heater and I would never go back to the standard type. We don’t have any noise associated with ours. We easily clean it out annually (a simple process completed in about 5 minutes). The access to endless hot water is so nice! We’ve upgraded our electrical service previously and didn’t find it to be an onerous project and it was easily accomplished by our electrician and a reasonable cost. I would highly recommend the tankless option. Good luck! By the way, I applaud your choice to adjust your plans on your home renovation. As I get older, I’m finding that less is more. At this point with a 3600 sq ft home, I’m actually dreaming of a single story 1200 foot home. 🤣
I would NOT use the tankless. With just you and Matt, there is not a high demand like there would be with a large family. The electricity pull when turning on is fairly high and requires heavy duty wiring. I don’t know much about the gas tankless but in the long run, buying a standard tank will be cheaper either way. If you do go with electric, get an Intermatic Timer. AKA The Little Gray Box. I started using these boxes in our various homes about 40 yrs ago. Make sure you get one for 240V. Since I live alone, it’s only on for 2 hrs a day. If I need more, I can flip the switch. Easy to turn it completely off if I’m going to be gone for a week. Basically, who needs hot water from 12 AM to 5 AM? You know your schedule. When I had 2 girls at home, we set it to come on about 4 AM for morning showers, off at 6 AM. The on again about 3 PM to 5 PM for the DW. Those times also kept us out of the heaviest draw on the power company. Laundry days got a flipped ON switch. I don’t know if there is such an animal for gas HWH.
In Australia, I had a LPG tankless hot water system and I adored it. Still miss it to this day. Is anything like that available in the US?
Our gas tankless hot water is in the attic. We love it. No noise at all. We do flush it every year but it’s a simple process.
I do not like gas period. But I have a standard gas hot water heater in the attic. A valve broke a couple months ago and spewed water out, my husband was able to get it turned off and the water spot dried n paint covered. We had to worry about if the hole in our garage with stairs and all was big enough. Neighbors had had that problem the year before( tanks being built more rounded). It was a job four men got the new tank up without cutting into timbers. I would never put any tank in attic.
In our first house, we had a standard electric tank in an inside utility/laundry room. It worked great, no extra ventilation etc, no worries on gas leak.
We’ve had two gas, Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters for the past 10 years. Our home is 2800 sqft. We have an exterior tank at one end of the house that supplies hot water to the laundry room, kitchen and 2 bathrooms. The other tank (interior) is in the walk-in closet of our master suite at the opposite end of the house.
Why two tanks? The upside of a tankless heater is cost savings and a far less bulky tank. The downside can be the delay in getting hot water to your spigot. Naturally, the further away from the tank, the longer it takes. It’s not instant. Two tanks can be a better choice depending on your needs and the layout if your home. We would never go back to an ole school tank.
Thanks for that comment! I’ve been thinking of replacing my conventional gas HWH (which is right next to my en suite bath but far from the kitchen & 2nd bath) with two tankless electric units and wondered if that was a common option. My choice of electric over gas is because I have solar panels.
We have a propane tankless water heater. Only because the house had one when we bought it in 2020. It was 10 years old, and the Uri freeze of 2021 finished off the original heater. We replaced it with a very good brand of tankless.
We don’t like it. Yes, it provides hot water, except at the kitchen faucet (far from outdoor mounted heater). But not really hot water in any point in our home. We love scalding hot water that we can adjust down to our temperature.
My husband’s boss is a multi billionaire. She says the same thing. She hates hers – and her house is so large she has two.
Go with the standard gas hot water heater. Especially with just two people in the home. A 50 gallon standard is mthan enough for you and Matt
Val, we had the same problem when ours was installed. We’re in the country so it’s propane. My husband called the installer and he told him how to increase the temp and it’s been lovely ever since. Hopefully yours just needs an adjustment.
We had a tankless in our old home about 15years ago (so I’m sure today’s models are better!) and I prefer a standard tank. It may have just been the one we had, but I found it very difficult and finicky to adjust the water temperature. It was practically either all hot or all cold, it was tricky getting actual warm water. I remember constantly adjusting the water in the kitchen doing dishes, and same with the shower – we had to keep messing with the faucet position to keep the temperature comfortable. The biggest problem with this obviously was the risk of getting scalded, and I had young kids at the time so it was a big deal. Come to think of it, maybe there was just something wrong with our unit? I’ve never heard anything about this being a known issue but I doubt I’d ever choose one again.
There was nothing wrong with your unit. I hated my tankless for the same reason, scalding water or cold. It turns out that the heat element turns off if there isn’t enough water going through it. When I wanted warm water my unit would shut off.
We have always had gas water heater. Just got a new one. Bradford White. My old one lasted over 20 years. You probably don’t need the endless hot water with only 2 of you. Seems like the cost to do anything to an electrical panel would be costly. I would keep things simple, and move it to the new storage area
Go for tankless. Well worth it. They last so much longer. Much better than regular one.
I guess am a bit confused as to why the gas tankless cannot go in the bathroom which is becoming a storage closet? Can’t tankless water heaters that are gas be vented through the Attic to the roof so you don’t have a pipe sticking out of the side of your house? My direct vent furnace is 94% efficient from the mid 2000s and it vents about 20 ft away through PVC between the ceiling rafters. Are tankless water heaters exhaust different?
I did ask chatgpt and GAS tankless WH CAN definitely be installed on interior walls and vented both horizontally out the side of your house or vertically through your roof… and, depending on the size of the pipe, 100ft away. I don’t understand why the current plumber cannot just vent it from your hallway bathroom future SETUP, horizontally across the sunroom’s ceiling and out the side of the sunroom wall… then when you are ready to remove that room and build the addition you would just need to make additional changes if the addition becomes bigger or smaller. From what I’ve read it also will require a floor drain for condensation would you already have being a bathroom. I totally apologize if I’m missing something as to why you have to go Electric versus just staying with gas which from what GPT says is more efficient
I’m team gas hot water heater in the new storage closet. So much less work, disruption, cost, and easy to access. If you don’t like looking at it, put a pretty screen in front of it.
I’ve contemplated the tankless in our main home and in a short term rental we have. Both times I ended up going with the hot water tank instead due to space constraints and odd tankless placement issues. We used to have a rental where the hot water heater was in the attic. Can you relocate the gas hot water heater into your attic space?
We went with the tankless water heater recommended by our contractor that supposedly could handle a 4-unit building. And hated it. You had to run it for many minutes to get the hot water to flow from the garage where it was installed to the back of the 2000 house where the master bath was. And when it finally got hot, and you stepped into it, About 60 seconds later, you’d get a clot of ice cold water that hit you. Never could figure out why. But I hated that in California we were wasting water, waiting to the point where it was hot enough to step in the shower without getting a bucket of cold water dumped on us. It was great for filling a large soaking tub that we had and used regularly. But other than that, I saw no benefits and only the one big drawback. When we move to our retirement home, we were thrilled that we had a regular tank water heater. And if it goes out, we will replace with that type again.
Dear Kristi,
You should be able to have a gas tankless water heater on an inside wall and vent to or through your crawlspace or attic to an outside wall/roof/foundation.
That’s what we’re planning on our vacation home that should be starting in the next couple of weeks, as soon as the excavation people have an opening.
It’s not done yet but our contractor assures us it’s possible and he’s done it before. I’m in Michigan. Your codes may be different.
YHWH Bless You : )
I can only speak to my experience. I used to have water heaters. One failed and flooded my basement, ruining the flooring. We replaced the flooring and had a new one installed, and it also failed about 2 weeks later. Flooring again. As well, they heat water all day long even if you are not using it. To me that seems like a waste. Since then, we have had 2 houses with tankless and have been very happy with them. I would not go back to tanks.
As far as your electrical panel goes, will you be routing your workshop electrical through the one in the house? or going to 2 meters? I am a belt and suspenders kind of girl, if it is close to being full, I would bite the bullet and replace it now while the upheaval is going on, instead of waiting until you really have to upgrade.
Hi, Kristi!
I haven’t looked to see if anyone else has suggested this first: a water heater timer. You can purchase a timer and have it installed to control when you need the water good and hot and when you don’t, so you’re not paying energy to keep it at X degrees from 10pm to 5am when you won’t be showering until the morning, or just before bed.
Just a thought!
Cheers,
kathleen
The problem with that is now you’re going to have to wait at least 2 hours and the water heater has to work extra hard to heat up all that water so I don’t believe there’s any savings
Hi there,
A typical hot water tank takes a lot of space but so much easier. We were looking for the on demand tankless one. Our plumber told us that it uses more water because you have to wait for the hot water to reach the faucet. Our house has 2 levels so reaching out the second floor would waste water, electricity or gas. I love the tankless version because of the saving space but in the end we went with the normal gas one. We are in Canada.
This is a bit random, but when we had a house with the water heater in the closet we had to keep the door to the closet always ajar for venting. That was a while ago so maybe that is not a thing anymore. I found it to be irritating. The cat always got in there and people who didn’t know were always closing the door. Maybe check if this is a requirement in your area.
I too am interested in the space saving aspects of a tankless water heater but as of now, do not have one. My concern for you, you mentioned that the electric panel would be quite “full” if you went tankless? Ummm… please remember you still haven’t even connected your shop yet? And I’m fairly certain that will need a 220 plug….no? ok thats my concern. I could be completely out in left field LOL
We had a number of procrastinated plumbing repairs completed almost a month ago. Because it was a list, the company sent a master and apprentice team. While the repairs were underway the master started doing a walk thru on the downtime. We talked water heaters because we did have some code needs to address in the future (likely needed expansion tank, and minor details). Overall they shared for our home with no good outside location, it was cost-efficient to keep the water heater inside, with a tank. Apparently the tankless has different requirements related to venting materials, and maintenance. Redoing the utility area venting in a 2-level home to accommodate those needs would be more costly than updating to tankless. So maybe buy a plumber a lunch?
I’ve no experience with tankless, but have seen many publications over the years about them. Most of those were similar to the comments from your fans – they are mixed! I’d decided that they are a personal opinion depending on factors such as how hot you like it, how long you need consistent heated water (it can fluctuate as it heats) and what electric (or gas) costs in your area. With standard water heaters – gas or electric? As I’ve no experience with tankless, I can only comment on standard, and my vote is always going to be gas vs. electric. We’ve had both, and found that hard water will destroy heating elements really fast in electric, even if you drain the tank every month. It is such a pain to either drain them or replace elements! Since we have moved from two homes to a third, the last two had gas heaters, with no issues at all in a total of 18 years. I’m not convinced yet that I would want a tankless heater, because I take long showers, with my long, thick hair! It takes me forever to shampoo and condition my hair and get it rinsed out in between, resulting in no less than a 20 min. process! How do people shower in 5 mins.??? Even when I had short hair I only shaved off 5 mins.!
OK, here are my two pennies worth. Since we lived all over the world, and in many different homes, I can give you an unadulterated view on hot water heaters. The tankless ones we had in Europe were OK, and just OK, Europeans don’t shower as long as Americans do, and as far as I can tell they don’t use a hot water wash, and dishwashers were unheard of at the time. They have not improved all that much. We’ve had both gas and electric hot water heaters. They cost about the same in the long run depending on your utility carrier and what natural gas was going for at the time, or whether or not your electric came from a nuclear power plant. With all that said, our water heater here at the farm was the last thing we replaced from the original mechanical along with the plumbing. We went with an electric, since we are on propane and it costs a bloody fortune for it. We went a little bigger since we have a farm and I do cheffy things. If anything, our electric bill went down, as they make these things so very efficient now a days. Move the water heater into the new space, go electric and get some rest and on to the next project. After all the sleep I lost, all the years of research, my husband and I are both scientists, all the manuals, brochures and web pages, a good new-fashioned electric water heater is the way to go and will see you through all your necessary needs for a long time. The next time you have to think about replacing this is about the time they should finally deliver on those flying cars they promised our generation.
Cheers to How Showers!
Kristi we do have an electric tankless water heater to save space in our storage area and we did need another breaker box installed when we built the house. With your situation if you have enough room in the storage area with Matt’s equipment I would probably just keep your current hot water heater.
I’m following this post closely.
I would like a tankless hot water unit, too. I have room in the breaker panel to accommodate the electric unit and it would mounted on the wall (inside closet wall) where the current tank is. However, I’ve read a gas unit is more efficient. I already have a Generac, so gas is already on sight. A gas unit could go in the same closet, but would need to be vented out the roof, but I’m not a fan of cutting thru the roof. An outside unit could be mounted on the exterior side of the closet…but Florida code says it needs to be mounted a certain feet away from windows and a power source…AC, Generac, outside plug, etc…all of those things line that particular exterior wall
This leaves me with an electric unit, I think.
I have never had a tankless water heater, but if I had to choose between an electric water heater and a gas water heater, I would choose gas every time. The recovery time on a gas water heater is so much less than an electric water heater. That is my 2 cents. 🙂 Have a great day. Kara
The way I see it, the only downside of a traditional gas water heater (for you and Matt) is the size. Tankless definitely has perks like a smaller footprint and hot water on demand, but it’s unlikely running out of hot water will be an issue with just the 2 of you. Considering the additional cost of running the electrical and the possibility of overloading your electrical panel, I think the standard gas water heater makes sense. Save the money for pretty things. 🙂
Krisiti, we have a waterheater near one of the bedrooms in our house, and sadly when it kicks on it is loud enough to wake whoever is trying to sleep. I would go tankless if I were you, because of it’s proximity to your bedroom. We have lived here a long time and are on our third water heater. We have had both gas and electric versions- both too loud to be near a bedroom.
I have a tankless. It’s also loud when it kicks on.
Go with the standard gas one. Gas is so much cheaper than electricity and if you haven’t had an issue with the traditional gas water heater whyakena huge change? It seems that the electric one will only end up costing you more money. A new electrical panel, more expensive due to being electric and not gas, having to possibly do new demo and construction to put it in. The gas one works fine and can easily be moved to the other side of that wall. Just stick with that.
We put in a tankless hot water heater when we needed to replace our old heater. Two things I love: we never run out of hot water and it’s lasted much longer than a traditional hot water heater. But there’s one thing I hate: it takes forever to get hot water to the faucets. Even the bathroom which is just a few feet away takes 2 minutes to get hot water and so much water gets wasted. I will never get a tankless again for that reason.
You can get an on-demand recirculation pump (or set it up on a timer). You turn it on a few minutes before you need the hot water and it just cycles the water back to the hot water heater until it is up to temp–no wasted water. Then you can turn on the tap and have that instant hot water. There are some that can be set up under a sink.
We installed a tankless electric water heater to our house, in the country. We are in NY state for reference. We didn’t see a major jump in our bill from the new tankless heater. We did expand our electrical panel, but if you are going to be building out your shop, will you need more room for that in your panel? Would it be worth doing it now and have the benefit for your new shop and tankless water heater? We are happy with our tankless water heater. There are only two of us in the house and to me, I’d rather have the hot water heated when we need it rather than the hot water sitting in the tank being kept at a certain temperature until we use it. I used to hear the heater kick on to heat the water and it drove me nuts thinking about the wasted fuel to heat water we weren’t using.
I realize you live in a part of the country that doesn’t have near-zero temps in the winter, so outside could be an option. (Here in Nebraska, things would immediately freeze and break the water lines.) You have a good location, WHY would you want to place something like this outside, where it’s visible and not a great look?? Please keep it inside.
I agree with many here. Just put a standard one inside that wall from where it is now and keep the gas. I hate how long it takes my electric one to heat between hubby and my showers. Forget doing laundry then trying to shower at same time. Just my 2 pennies worth. 😁 (my whole house is electric) but we rent, so we have no choice.
If tankless were truly superior I think we would be seeing a phase out of a tank water heater. Will you need to upgrade the panel with the new addition if you are indeed running out of room? If so, easy decision (if it can be vented out the roof) We have a new tank and have never run out of hot water running multiple machines and taking a shower at the same time.
I know this is probably a stupid idea, but what if you put it inside the cabinet where the dishwasher is now? Would it fit in there with the door closed? I don’t know how big these are, but the plumbing and electric are already there for the dishwasher.
We have two houses. We removed an interior gas standard water heater when we remodeled our 1937 bungalow and replaced it with an exterior gas tankless water heater I like it but we’ve got a setback requirement from windows and we could only but it in because we took out a window in our guest bedroom.
Our other house has a standard gas water heater in the corner of our interior laundry room. I’ve considered replacing it with a tankless one because it takes up valuable space, but we’ve got windows on that side of the house that can’t easily be moved. Not sure why it’s okay to have a gas flame in the house on the standard one, but not okay to have a gas flame outside near a window, other than grandfather rules.
Do you need to upgrade your electrical panel anyway for the addition? What are the advantages of a tankless water heater to you? Does it outweigh the cost/installation inconveniences? Rhetorical questions. I debated replacing ours with electric tankless when we needed a new one and decided it wasn’t worth it for us, as we never really run out of hot water, even as a family of 4.
The lifetime of a tankless water heater is about twice that of a standard tank water heater. When you are figuring out the costs of installing the different kinds, you will want to make a list of everything: Plumbing costs, electrical costs, carpentry costs, the actual cost of the water heater, and finally, what it takes to maintain it and how long will it last?
If you do go with a tank water heater, when you buy a new one, buy the one with the longest warranty available. They cost more, but they are more sturdily built. If they fail within the warranty period, you will get a rebate for the unused guarantee period.
Our neighbor has owned a gas tankless water heater for at least 15 years without problem. We have gone through four tank water heaters in 24 years! And she has six people in her household (three generations) and we only have four.
The first time our water heater leaked and needed replacing, it leaked through the wall into several of our rooms. Our homeowner’s insurance had to pay to have our marble laundry room floor redone, redo the sheet rock, paint, and carpet in our library, and pay for us to stay in a hotel for two nights, as they had to remove our furnace to replace our water heater (and it was in January). As a result of this, our very competent plumber installed a metal water heater pan and exterior drain, for when the water heater tank failed again. And they always do.
If you put a tank water heater in your interior closet, be prepared for its inevitable fail, always manifested by a creeping puddle of water. If a water heater in the interior closet leaks, it would spill onto your beautifully redone wood floors, and maybe out into the hall and to the master closet or your bedroom. And it will ruin any electrical appliances that are sitting on the floor, like your vacuum cleaner.
Another reason to consider a tankless water heater is that it will take up less square footage and less volume in the closet.
Before you decide, check with your city to see if there are any state, local, or federal rebates still available for changing to tankless. Our area has them.
So many comments and opinions! My husband insisted on replacing our gas water heater with a gas tank less one at over twice the cost. Both were/are located in the basement of our two story house. By code, the tank less had to vent to the outside wall a certain number of feet from a window to prevent fumes from entering the house. What made me furious is the vent had to be on the back of the house where I had planned to have a patio. The fumes can be smelled 6 feet away from the vent! You wouldn’t want to sit where you would breath the fumes. Also, when the power goes out (which may only happen twice a year for less than 24 hours) the tank less water heater immediately shuts down. With the gas tank heater we could at least get two showers in before the hot water ran out. Also, my husband claimed the tank less would last 20 years. It failed twice within 5 years. The second time required a total replacement. Apparently, my husband used the wrong type of vinegar to clean the tank less heater which caused it to fail. So, if you go with a tank less be sure of where you can vent it and use the correct type of vinegar to clean it.
We have an interior tankless gas water heater, but it’s on an exterior wall of course, for venting. So I can’t speak for a thankless electric heater, but I have to say we’re very happy with ours. It can take a minute for the water to heat up, but the fact that we never run out of hot water, even with 8 people living in our house is amazing. On the other hand, there are only 2 of you in your house, and you’d have to take a pretty long shower to run out of hot water, I’m sure! So I don’t know if the hassle of switching to tankless would really be worth it for you.
The unit is on the INSIDE of an exterior wall, to be clear. Lol. I don’t know if that’s necessary, though, as long as you’re able to vent it outside. Ours is very quiet, there is no clicking like someone else mentioned, just a very quiet whooshing sound in the area it’s located in, that isn’t audible anywhere else.
At the end of the day it’s great to have the immediate unlimited hot water on demand, but the majority of the time it’s you and Matt so that shifts the real decision to cost. The material increase in cost to upgrade electric for the tankless and the risk of maxing out your panel prior to your addition may not be worth it.
I wanted one (because I had great experience with gas tankless) but at the end of the day it wasn’t worth the several thousand extra to upgrade electric.
My Vote … Keep it simple. Traditional gas water heater. You’re already set up for it, and you still have hot water even when the electricity goes out.
We have a Navien Gas Tankless water heater. I would never go back to a tank water heater. I also would not put in an electric tankless. I’m not sure what noise people are complaining about, but I can stand next to mine and barely hear it when the flame turns on, and sometimes I have to look at the digital display to see the little flame icon. It took us about a month of research with a plumber to select the model for our situation. There are models with little reserve tanks, you can also have hot water on demand units put under your sink for instant hot water. It does take a little longer for the water to get to the faucet, but it doesn’t really bother us. They cost more up front, but definitely save on space, and last longer than tanks. You need to get a plumber who knows about tankless water heaters, the installation is not something every plumber will know how to do properly. Good luck!
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Not on the subject at hand, but saw the upholstery fabric and immediately thought of you. Are you over paint swatches?
We had a tankless gas hot water heater for years and loved it. When we moved they didn’t have gas in our house so we kept the standard electric one. Our tankless was upstairs under the eaves.
We had a tankless gas hot water heater for years and loved it. When we moved they didn’t have gas in our house so we kept the standard electric one. Our tankless was upstairs under the eaves.
Before deciding, get a company (with a good reputation) who specialises in tankless heating, to come to the house and discuss your needs. We did that and felt more confident when we made the final decision.
Go with a gas tankless. Love ours. Electric prices are escalating.
What was the reason you began wanting a tankless?
Do you run out of hot water?
Our water heaters are downstairs. There is a pump on the line to our bedroom/bath upstairs as far as helping with longer distance.
We have instant enough hot water, and plenty for the big jacuzzi; plenty when our house is full of kids and grandkids. We’ve had all 3 showers going, and the washer and dishwasher. When it’s just hubby and I 90% of the time, we sure never run out.
You might want to consider a heat pump water heater; essentially they take the heat out of the air in the room and use that to heat the water, and then any extra heat required is supplied by more normal means. I’ve considered an electric tankless heater, but they do tend to be less of a benefit than the gas tankless heaters when compared to their traditional counterparts. You do have to ensure the room size you have it in is large enough for the heat exchange version, but I know two people who have them and love them in Galveston. Benefit is since it is pulling heat from the air, then those rooms end up slightly cooler (which is why the room has to be large enough for it to work properly). One person essentially has an air conditioned attic now due to the heat pump water heater.
I like our gas water heater because when we have power outages, and still have hot water.
When we lived in a hot climate (Tucson), the tankless really didn’t work in the summer. That’s b/c the temperature of the water coming in from outside was to hot to fire (trigger) the tankless. It had to be set very high, which made the water very hot, and there wasn’t really any cold to mix with it, since the water in the ground was already quite warm, but just not quite hot enough for a shower. We have a very good tankless – a Rinai and before that a Bosch. Nothing wrong with either one, just a climate issue. But the extra space was nice. Also, you are supposed to have a separate gas line. So we had to upgrade to a 1.5″ meter, had one line serving the stove, HVAC and gas fireplace, and one line serving the tankless HW heater exclusively. That was code. Not sure how this would work with an electric one.
I switched from a 60 gal electric HWH to a gas tankless. It’s o.k, but not really an upgrade at all. There is not really any change in my electric bill and it takes longer for the hot water to make it to the tap. The only benefit is you don’t run out of hot water, which is nice when I have visitors. If that’s not an issue for you, I’d just move the gas water heater to the closet, if you have room. If my gas tankless bites the dust, I will most likely move to a regular gas HWH.
I only have experience with a standard gas water heater, but here in Kentucky, it has worked fine for the two (and sometimes four) of us over the 30+ years we have lived in our house. It’s been replaced once. We have a steam shower with dual shower heads and routinely use them all at the same time and have never run out of hot water. One thing I really love about a gas tank WH is that we always have hot water for washing dishes and taking showers during power outages that can be days long. As others have said, I would definitely get the pan and plumb it to a drain in case it leaks. My Mom’s electric tank WH gave way, and it was an awful mess! Good luck!
Get a 110v heat pump water heater. They even have a rebate through 9/30/25. They are extremely energy efficient and come with large tanks. Given your post and beam foundation it’ll be easy to run a drain pipe under the house. I have had the old tank kind they no longer sell the larger tanks. Then I had a gas tankless, had various issues with it. Many expensive repairs. It leaked gas which would not be healthy for Matt. Plus every time it ran you could hear it turn off and on. Never again.
We live in the Austin area and I have a few friends that have tankless hot water heaters for their bathrooms and one of the things that all of them have put in is a water softner system for the house before putting in the tankless is because of the mineral buildup. I assume since you are in Waco ya’ll have hard water there too, so mineral buildup might be an issue. There is also a new type of hot water heater that has constant flow hot water (we probably should have put this in when we were building in 2017) and if it’s hot water on the spot that you want this might be worth looking into.
We’ve had a gas tankless HWH in our attic for 15 years. Never a moment’s problem. We love it.
Don’t know if anyone has already brought this up, but you’re gonna need substantial electrical outside for your workshop and any additional lights and buildings. Check with the electrician if you may need an electrical panel upgrade in the future anyway.