Anyone got one, or do the research. My water heater is about shot and am now searching for a replacement.

Are the Tankless good, or just good marketing?

They're good. My friend has one (a Rinnai) and it works well. They are based on sound principles of energy and economics. I once designed dual $4,000 ones for a remote bathhouse site in Egypt -- when troops shower around the clock, no tank is big enough. And hot showers are a key reason we defeated the Krauts and Ivan.

The real issue is whether they will pay back in the time you expect to be in the house. The first cost is much greater, and conventional water heaters are so cheapl.

They're not hype, like water filters or something. They're the real deal. Makes sense to heat it as you need it, instead of wasting energy keeping a tank of water hot all the time. But the burner/element needed to quickly heat enough water for a bath or shower is expensive.

I'm not worried about payback. More just want to fill the bath with Hot Water, or have N showers in a row and them be hot.

I was just reading around, and got scared. Looked like there was bursts of cold water that would sporadically come through your pipes.

Its one thing to have hot water run out. Its another to constantly get shocked by a cold blast.

Depends on your water usage. A family of four will usually recoup its investment in 3-4 years, so if you're in a home for the long haul, it's worth it. However, if you don't already have gas heat in your home, then the cost will be much higher because you'll have to hook up to a new utility.



Have I ever mentioned that I work in water filtration?

My aunt has one. As long as you are not right next to it, where the pipes don't have time to hold any of the warm water, it is great. She saved a lot of money last year using hers, and in all rooms save the bathroom next to the tankless water heater, she says the water has been great. She is thinking of setting up a mini-tank nearby just for that bathroom though.

We've had one for six years.

It's very small. Stuffed in the back of a closet. No overheating problems. Had an element go out, but it was replaced under warranty.

Family of three. We've run the shower, washer, and dishwasher at the same time with no problems. Water heats almost instantly. No issues. Have never gotten cold spurts, ever, except when that element went out.

We can take endless showers in a row with no issues. I think our record was six (guests).

I have nothing bad to say about it. We're very happy to have spent the extra money to go with a tankless over a traditional.

Do you know what size and/or brand you got?

I'll check. Hold on.

Okay, I'm back. Nevermind, all the paperwork is in storage somewhere and I can't get to it to without dismantling the closet with the washer and dryer.

Sorry.

I will try to dig up the info later.

We have one at work and have never had any problem with it. Although since we don't take showers or run a washing machine our demand for hot water hasn't tested its capacity. In another part of the building we have a traditional water heater that just had to be replaced. About a quarter of our repair budget for the year gone in one fell swoop right at the start!

The ones you're talking about have got to be better than the ones I encountered in Latin America over twenty years ago. Those things could deliver an electrical shock while you were showering if you weren't careful.

Filtration technology is legit. And people that do it for the taste and enjoyment, great.

But there is a ripoff racket out there where they convince people that tap water will hurt them. Some even use a simple magic trick to make the water turn color (as if it's a bad thing). Tap water is good in just about every place in this country. And we should keep it that way -- every jurisdiction should have tap water standards that assume little babies are drinking it the entire time they grow up.

No worries. The info on your experience was more important than the specific product.

We've been talkingabout getting one, since we now need to turn up the shower about 3 times while bathing. The old hot water heater is around 9 years old. And never was able to fill up our tub all the way. But she decided to turn up the time table (there might e some president's day sales this weekend). So I figured I should research it, And the first article I came across was full of concerns. So I wanted to find out people's practicle experience.

The idea appealed to me, but that statement about getting the occasional shot of cold water really scared me. They also put the return at 22 years or so. Thankfully getting a return isn't my goal. But I do like to know I will have hot water when I shower.

We had some water filter salesman do the "Look what happens when I add a drop of this chemical to your tap water...and see how the whole glass immediately turns cloudy? That's the precipitated EVIL in the tap water!"

I currently have a standard water heater, but I think I'd get a tankless one when the time comes to replace it.
Heating water will then be a tankless job, but somebody has to do it.

Someone take Brotoro out behind the woodshed and give him what he deserves for that pun.

I can tell you straight up that in our experience, we've never once in six years had problems with getting hot water save for when the part went bad. That ended up being a hassle because the guy we used to take care of it couldn't get the unit, etc etc, and we were without hot water for a few days, but that was a supply problem, not a problem with the unit itself.

For whatever reason our bathroom sink is slow to warm, but our shower gets instant hot and our kitchen sink warms fairly quickly. And once you get the hot water pumping, it won't stop. You'll be able to take multiple showers in a row without pause.

Hope that helps, and if it all goes bad blame Kevin. Remember, he's in he water filtration business.

Hmmm. Did anyone here grow up in a house with a woodshed?

Two sheds?

One for wood, one for shovels.

Arthur, two sheds, Jackson. Ha.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjS3gzHetA[/youtube]

Last I looked, they were only worth it for families smaller than 4. Otherwise hot water is being used fast enough and often enough. For smaller demands, like a seasonal home, or single or couple dwelling, too much hot water has to stand idle for too long, so it's wasteful. I also think for larger consumption than a family, like a school or army, on demand heating would probably be better so one never runs out. Also, you need to have gas already, or it'll be way too expensive.

I heard, but didn't look, of tiny, quite inexpensive, on-demand units for under sink installation - probably one for each room that uses water. This could cut down on the long wait for hot water to run the length of really long pipes where the water would have to run the distance and heat the pipe before you get fully hot water. That can take several minutes if the distance from the tank is great. I might go the way of a unit for each sink/tub/appliance, or room, for a new house and save a lot on tens to hundreds of feet of pipe, but for an existing house it's the family size that matters most.

But if the up front cost isn't the issue, I hear on demand is great.

No worries. I was mostly just messing with you. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!

Also, I agree with you about the scam artists. The vast majority of our customers are on wells, not municipal water systems. Well water can have tons of problems; hardness, excessive iron, acidity, hydrogen sulfide, and so on, so I like to think that I'm providing a necessary service for people who live in the country.

If the hot water heater here goes out I plan on replacing it with a tankless heater.

We have to do those tests (legitimate ones) periodically at work. Our city water supply is hard as a rock, so we have a softening system for the building that's a headache to maintain. The local water is safe to drink, mind you--we're concerned about minerals gradually damaging the equipment in our HVAC system. Personally I've come to think that the softener is a piece of overengineering, of which we have several in this place.

It's not the same test. Walter filtration salesmen have a highly criticized test where a simple additive turns tap water cloudy, and they cite this test as reason your tap water is harmful to you.