Tankless Hot Water Heater

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We've thought about putting in a tankless when our current tank fails because it eventually will. Our main reason is our current tank sits outside in the garage as does the furnace. Why they did this when they built our house I have no idea. Nice if you get a leak just goes in the garage drain, but in the winter it seems like it takes forever to get hot water. Even with a tank blanket, so thinking because of this and no place to really re-route a new tank in the house a tankless might be better. However, we haven't shopped or spoken to anyone knowledgeable as of yet to see what's suggested. As far as power savings idk...I just no we belong to a private Co-Op with no one else to switch to, so they have us by the biskets.
 
My big benefit to having the propane tankless is not having to keep a resivoir of hot water at the ready, and when four of us were in the home no one ever hit a cold water spell. The gas never fires until you turn the hot water on, then it takes just as long to get hot from the faucet and the conventional type. To me it's been a win-win.
 
Our kitchen is the farthest from the tank and it takes forever for hot water to reach the tap. We always feel like we're wasting water. Someone mentioned putting a small tankless unit under the cabinet, so maybe an option as well. Sure be nice to have hot water when needed versus wasting it.
 
We've thought about putting in a tankless when our current tank fails because it eventually will. Our main reason is our current tank sits outside in the garage as does the furnace. Why they did this when they built our house I have no idea. Nice if you get a leak just goes in the garage drain, but in the winter it seems like it takes forever to get hot water. Even with a tank blanket, so thinking because of this and no place to really re-route a new tank in the house a tankless might be better. However, we haven't shopped or spoken to anyone knowledgeable as of yet to see what's suggested. As far as power savings idk...I just no we belong to a private Co-Op with no one else to switch to, so they have us by the biskets.
You have a point. We still 'waste' the water in the pipes until the hot water gets to the faucet. I have started looking at putting in an 'insta-hot' to heat the water at the kitchen faucet until the hot water gets there. But, now, 'pay back' time is pushed way out. Our tank is the garage. I 'use' to smoke out in the garage. I could count $ wasted with a tank heater with just 2 of us at home and it heating 24hrs a day. We are on co-op, and the savings are about $25 a month at this point. Imma not trying to sell anyone anything. just try to give the facts.
 
BTU requirement for tankless is based on cold water temperature in, hot water temperature out and flow rate. More BTU's in northern climates with colder incoming water. Convert the BTU number to amps for electric or therms for gas. For electric, that can end up being a lot of amps that may exceed the capacity of your existing electrical system if you plan to take showers, dry clothes and run your other electric appliances at the same time. Shoestring explains that above. Tankless means that your electric or gas system must heat at a rate that equals your water usage. So, they must be sized to cover the max flow rate of hot water that you will use or else your hot water temperature will drop off with high water flow. Takes a LOT of amps to heat water instantaneously.
Issue with gas tankless system is that they are fairly high BTU rate and therefore require a suitable sized vent for the flue gas as well as suitable sized gas line. Retrofits are more difficult (expensive) than new construction. Just be sure you have all those issues covered if you attempt a DIY installation. The cost of the tankless heater is just one piece of the total. Look at total installed cost for a retrofit.
 
BTU requirement for tankless is based on cold water temperature in, hot water temperature out and flow rate. More BTU's in northern climates with colder incoming water. Convert the BTU number to amps for electric or therms for gas. For electric, that can end up being a lot of amps that may exceed the capacity of your existing electrical system if you plan to take showers, dry clothes and run your other electric appliances at the same time. Shoestring explains that above. Tankless means that your electric or gas system must heat at a rate that equals your water usage. So, they must be sized to cover the max flow rate of hot water that you will use or else your hot water temperature will drop off with high water flow.
Just thinking of calculating all of this makes my head hurt.
 
I need to replace the (house) hot water heater at our farm, probably need to add one also. have thought about a tankless water heater, don't really know anything about them. I do know they are high priced. Anyone have experience with them. At our home we have natural gas water heater and we love it, But natural gas is not available at the farm. any thoughts on tankless water heater efficiency, overall cost, hot water production...Thanks
We have had a Rheem tankless on propane for 15 years, 3 bathrooms, at one time 1 boy and 2 girls living with us and could run all three bathrooms dishwasher and washer all run at same time. Now 2 of the three have married and built houses both with tankless. Tankless is all i would have, I would not go back to a tank water heater.
 
Hmm. Never thought of the hard water issue. Suppose that strikes a tankless water heater off of the list for us. Don't have a water softener.
So hard water is going to be a challenge for any water heater, tanks build up sediment and elements bake the minerals on. The tankless (I like em gas but electric also works fine) have other advantages but here's the thing - the day before your birthday remember to run a gallon of vinegar through the tankless coils using the maintenance inputs that come with the rennai, rheem etc and your heater will last a loooong time. Then on your birthday you can enjoy a cold one knowing you extended the time until you'll have to spend another grand and a half on a new tank.
 
So hard water is going to be a challenge for any water heater, tanks build up sediment and elements bake the minerals on. The tankless (I like em gas but electric also works fine) have other advantages but here's the thing - the day before your birthday remember to run a gallon of vinegar through the tankless coils using the maintenance inputs that come with the rennai, rheem etc and your heater will last a loooong time. Then on your birthday you can enjoy a cold one knowing you extended the time until you'll have to spend another grand and a half on a new tank.
Yeah I'm not sure if vinegar would be enough. We have extremely rusty water. But thank you for the tip. =)
 
For the last year the wife and I have been going round and round about installing a soft water system. We had it plumbed for one when we built the home in 2012, but that was it. I like soft water because it saves the appliances etc. Wife hates soft water, and would rather replace appliances or spend twice as long cleaning bathrooms. I keep telling her when the water heater goes because of the hard water buildup, I'm putting in soft water. She says I'll be in the barn if I do 🤪🤬. So far in 2020 we have replaced the dish washer and washing machine both new in 2012 because of hard water.🤷
 
Why doesn't she like a water softener? I heard that soft water lathers better and is better to use for washing clothes and people. Our water is not super hard so not necessary to install a water softener like some parts of the country.

We just bought a home in another state with 2 electric hot water heaters. One feeds only the second bathroom. With just one person (our son) using that bathroom (and that water heater being the older one) I asked my husband about installing a tankless water heater when it goes bad in the future. The newer water heater feeds the kitchen, laundry and master bath.

How do you know if your water is too hard or not? Do they run on 110 or do you need 220?
 
My parents have soft water and the house before we built our current home had a water softener and she hated it. Said her hair always felt nasty and she didn't think it cleaned the clothes that well. Also, hated hauling the salt bags and having to keep it full. I enjoyed it and no rust stains or harder water spots on anything.

As far as power goes they make them now that don't even require power. Not sure how they work but have seen a few pamphlets on them. The old one we had ran off a normal 110 V outlet.
 
Yeah I'm not sure if vinegar would be enough. We have extremely rusty water. But thank you for the tip. =)
The vinegar won't help with the iron in your water. It only works for lime and calcium buildup. It takes a special filter to remove the iron and then use "Iron Out" in the tankless once a year.

I live in an area that is heavy with limestone. My well is over 1500 feet deep and it is very hard water. If I don't keep our water softener in good order, it affects everything from the glasses we drink out of to our pipes and appliances.
 
The vinegar won't help with the iron in your water. It only works for lime and calcium buildup. It takes a special filter to remove the iron and then use "Iron Out" in the tankless once a year.

I live in an area that is heavy with limestone. My well is over 1500 feet deep and it is very hard water. If I don't keep our water softener in good order, it affects everything from the glasses we drink out of to our pipes and appliances.
Ah, yes that's fair. Maybe install a magnet somewhere in the upper line :ROFLMAO:.
 
We put a tankless gas heater in our shed for washing apples when we were packing them way back in 1992. I tell you running that 14 hours a day was a good tax deduction in gas costs. We had so many problems with it. It ran a pilot light which was hard to keep going at times. The biggest issue was a consisten heat as the water supply was running off a pressure pump so it was up and down constantly. We ran that for ten years before upgrading to a newer version of the same thing and it was brilliant, electric pilot light, excellent efficiency and able to handle the water pressure fluctuations with no problems. Best part about them is you can set the heat on it so don't need to add cold and use minimal energy. On our house we use solar systems.
 

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