[dayslug24]

I was looking into tankless water heaters and wondering if it would be worth while to switch to one when its time to replace my standard hot water tank- has anyone installed one of these, and are they worth the extra money vs. a standard tank?

[labman]

I have looked into them, and bought a conventional tank last summer. I think the savings are grossly over estimated. With the modern, well insulated tanks, standby losses just aren't nearly what the tankless hype claims. With a gas hot water heater and a gas dryer, our gas usage drops almost to nothing in the summer. The bill doesn't. There is still a hefty fee for being hooked up. There is no way our hot water bill approaches the 25% of our gas usage as claimed by the tankless vendors. Do a search here. People have trouble with them. See https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electr...ome-41021.html It that thread the OP tankless heaters don't have enough juice to give hot water when the electric heat is on. The problem wasn't resolved yet last I looked.

The space saving claims are phony too. No they are not as big as a tank, but require much larger clearance spaces. I wanted to put one in the crawl space near the point of use and next to the furnace. No way! Didn't have the clearance.

[Fr_Chuck]

Also from what I have read on here there are also some problems with low water pressue, if your system does not have enough volume or pressue, the safety system will not allow the heater to kick in.

[letmetellu]

Do some math about the total cost of the tankless water heater and the cost of installation. Compare that to the realistic savings that you could have using the tankless heater opposed to the regular storage water heater. See how many years it would take you to save that much difference. Also you might consider estimated life span of the tankless heater. In our area we have very bad water and a water heater only last seven to eight years. So you might consider that you could have to spend that extra amount again in a few years. Although the expenses would not be as much because some of the things would not have to be done a second time, things like changing the gas line or the electric wiring.
You need to check to see how many gallons the heater will heat per minute and add up all of the gallons that you might need per minute. If a tankless heater can not keep up with the demand it just slows down the water flow.

[iamgrowler]

I have looked into them, and bought a conventional tank last summer. I think the savings are grossly over estimated. With the modern, well insulated tanks, standby losses just aren't nearly what the tankless hype claims. With a gas hot water heater and a gas dryer, our gas usage drops almost to nothing in the summer. The bill doesn't. There is still a hefty fee for being hooked up. There is no way our hot water bill approaches the 25% of our gas usage as claimed by the tankless vendors.

You raise some good points here, especially in regards to new tank insulation requirements.

Modern tanks are far more efficient than those of the past.

Do a search here. People have trouble with them. See https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electr...ome-41021.html It that thread the OP tankless heaters don't have enough juice to give hot water when the electric heat is on. The problem wasn't resolved yet last I looked.

This poster was talking about point of use electric tankless water heaters, not whole house gas fired tankless water heaters.

The space saving claims are phony too. No they are not as big as a tank, but require much larger clearance spaces. I wanted to put one in the crawl space near the point of use and next to the furnace. No way! Didn't have the clearance.

The clearance issues aren't any different than those of a direct vent HWT.

[iamgrowler]

I was looking into tankless water heaters and wondering if it would be worth while to switch to one when its time to replace my standard hot water tank- has anyone installed one of these, and are they worth the extra money vs. a standard tank?

I've installed about 25 of them (both Rinnai's and Takagi's) over the past 4 years, and have yet to hear any complaints about them from the homeowners.

Of the 2, I am partial to the Rinnai system.