Water heater recommendations

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Should I swap to a tankless or stay with tank type?

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Do you have natural gas available?

Just stick with a tank. A flush once a year is the only maintenance, cost effective, and a buddy can help you swap it out. A tankless is like a jet engine

My concern with a tankless is my water heater closet is on the opposite end of the house from the bathrooms. It will take an eternity for hot water to reach the showers.
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Same with tank.

I would go back with a tank, unless you are having problems with capacity on your previous one.

I believe you will want to install it outside but i am not sure. That being said, I am referring to how complex they are inside

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. Can I expect a natural gas tankless water heater to be so loud as to be heard in the bedroom?

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Yes. The major difference here is that a typical gas 50 - 60-gallon water heater has a burner that runs anywhere from 30k - 60k btu while a tankless will have a 100k - 200k burner and they will sound like a crawfish burner at full boogie. Their enclosures help some and the high-efficiency condensing units are a bit quiter still, but you'll pretty much always hear them when running. You'll need a plumber to check to make sure you have sufficient gas supply at that location too.

Thanks Clames

I’ve been looking at a heat pump type since it’s in my garage, it would basically double as an AC. Tax credit ends at the end of the year as far as I know.

I say this because I had been looking at the tankless, and decided against it. Realistically, I’m not limited on space and could just get a huge tank if I was worried about having enough water. The install for tankless is more complicated, the system is more complicated- for a residence with fairly predictable water consumption, I just couldn’t justify it.

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I’ve been looking at a heat pump type since it’s in my garage, it would basically double as an AC.

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In what way would it work as an AC in your garage? You do know that heat pump water heaters rarely work well in unconditioned spaces right? During the winter especially, the heat pump will basically stay in "high-use" mode which is essentially using the same elements and power as a standard electric water heater.

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I mean, a heat pump extracts heat from ambient air and exhausts cooler, less humid air

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It does, but it also exhausts the heat it created in expending the energy to be a heat pump, do the net effect is negligible. Also, you now have condensation to deal with and you'll have to drain and periodically clean out the piping as you should your house's AC system.

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Ok, what’s the problem with that? And are you basically saying that in the summer (the majority of the year), it will be able to use the ambient air efficiently without electric coils?

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Under ideal (read: manufacturers advertised ratings) conditions, but that's under light useage. Under moderate to high demand cycles (laundry day(s), showers, baths, etc) they will switch to a hybrid or high-demand mode which again will act like a standard electric water heater. That will happen more often that you think.

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I can’t tell if you actually have insight on this or not. Am I misunderstanding how these things operate?

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I've installed, and subsequently replaced, two such water heaters. In both cases the home owner bought into the marketing wank before really understanding how these systems work. Same applies to heat-pump dryers too. There are very limited situations where they are a good option. I would definitely not put one in a garage or an attic, any place that accumulates dirt, dust, bugs, etc or is not insulated and conditioned. A furnished basement or dedicated interior space like a large utility room, sure.