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Tankless Water Heater - Yes or no?

Posted on 4/26/21 at 6:31 pm
Posted by Zachary
Member since Jan 2007
1636 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 6:31 pm
And why? Thank you.
Posted by wickowick
Head of Island
Member since Dec 2006
45810 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 6:41 pm to
If electric, no
Posted by Tigerpaw123
Louisiana
Member since Mar 2007
17259 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 7:56 pm to
If you have gas and are buying it for the convenience of having endless hot water and don’t mind spending some money on installation yes

If you are buying it to save money....no
Posted by Hamma1122
Member since Sep 2016
19823 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 8:18 pm to
I say no
Posted by LSUtigerME
Walker, LA
Member since Oct 2012
3796 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 8:34 pm to
Tankless needs electricity to operate (even gas ones) or at least a battery backup.

If you need two tanks, I’d suggest a hybrid arrangement. One tankless for the primary bathroom, and a tank for the other side of house. I wish I had gone with that instead of two tanks. I evaluated a large tankless (high flow) for about the same cost as 2 tanks, but decided against it. I think a smaller tankless and a tank would have accomplished what I wanted in the house.
Posted by HighlyFavoredTiger
TexLaArk
Member since Jun 2018
879 posts
Posted on 4/26/21 at 11:23 pm to
Our current home has a tankless Rennai for the master bath and a 70 gal for the other 3 baths and kitchen, this is working well for us, I’ve owned 6 homes and this is the first tankless experience for us but we like it enough that we will have it in any future homes we live in.
Looking at them online, they are twice to three times the initial cost a 70 gal but we like a lot of hot bath and shower water and the Rennai provides 125 degrees water non stop, until you turn it off. Both our water heaters are natural gas and the tankless requires electricity for pilot and controller, I think it also provides built in freeze protection.
Posted by BlackPot
Member since Oct 2016
2061 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 7:39 am to
I wanted tankless really bad for my new house, but I don't have natural gas in my area. I really didn't want to worry about messing with a propane tank. And I hear stay away from all electric. So I just did a tank.
Posted by southern686
Narnia
Member since Nov 2015
883 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 8:16 am to
As already said. If gas, yes. If electric, no.

It really comes down to your situation and what you value more.
Endless hot water
Cost
Ease of install
etc.
Posted by lsu777
Lake Charles
Member since Jan 2004
31103 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:03 am to
if you have gas, you would be stupid not to.

still need electicity to it though. Can use battery backup for that if needbe.
Posted by ABucks11
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2012
1147 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:13 am to
When I bought my house, it had tankless. Was great until it broke and the company was bankrupt. I had a useless machine. Converted back to double tanks. I have a small family and have never run out of hot water on tanks. I think it’s a luxury item that is costly to install and costly to fix. The biggest con as people have pointed out is it won’t work in a power failure which becomes a huge PITA if you aren’t Preparedness’s
Posted by weadjust
Member since Aug 2012
15103 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:32 am to
quote:

if you have gas, you would be stupid not to.


I did the math and replacing my 40 gallon tank with tankless would save me less than $5 a month on my gas bill starting in year 15

Posted by gsvar2004
Member since Nov 2007
7954 posts
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:56 am to
we have 2 tankless. i love them. just last night all off the same water heater we had the washer running, the bathtub being filled and the shower going with no issues.
Posted by Zachary
Member since Jan 2007
1636 posts
Posted on 5/1/21 at 9:28 pm to
OP here. We don't mind spending more money up front on the tankless heaters (2) if it's worth it in the long run. We have gas. Can anyone comment on the cost of operation over time of tankless versus traditional tanks in a gas-powered house?
Thank you.
Posted by BeerMoney
Baton Rouge
Member since Jul 2012
8375 posts
Posted on 5/2/21 at 12:28 pm to
We have gas water heaters in our house. Takes a minute to spin up hot is the only negative. Other than that they're great if you use a lot of hot water.
Posted by Arkapigdiesel
Arkansas
Member since Jun 2009
13242 posts
Posted on 5/2/21 at 7:57 pm to
To those of you running double tanks, are you running one tank on a lower setting, which keeps the water warm? Then, are you running that already pre-heated warm water into the cold intake of the second tank?

Or, are you just running a "tee" fitting off the cold water from the outside meter into both tanks at the same time and have both tanks heating the water to the same temp, and then running a "tee" off the outlet of both tanks into the hot manifold of the house plumbing?

Those questions probably sound stupid, but I've never heard of people running double tanks before until I saw this thread.
Posted by ABucks11
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2012
1147 posts
Posted on 5/2/21 at 9:08 pm to
quote:

To those of you running double tanks, are you running one tank on a lower setting, which keeps the water warm? Then, are you running that already pre-heated warm water into the cold intake of the second tank?


I have this setup
Posted by shell01
Marianna, FL
Member since Jul 2014
793 posts
Posted on 5/2/21 at 10:18 pm to
quote:

To those of you running double tanks...


Our current house came with 2 tanks, one upstairs (master bath) and one downstairs (everything else.) Water came in and split before the heaters.

During a recent down-to-studs remodel (thanks Hurricane Michael...) we removed both tanked heaters, installed a tankless Rinnai just outside of the master bath, and reworked the plumbing accordingly. It takes maybe 30 seconds to get hot water at the furthest point with this setup (and it's near instant at the master shower.)
Posted by Icansee4miles
Trolling the Tickfaw
Member since Jan 2007
29195 posts
Posted on 5/2/21 at 10:25 pm to
Put in two tankless in the remodel of my previous house. Miss them dearly.
Posted by jmorr34
Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2004
2888 posts
Posted on 5/3/21 at 8:59 am to
Just bought a house that has tankless. Only thing I miss about my old tank heater is that it didn't take as long to heat up. For some reason this one takes a good bit of time. Maybe it needs to be adjusted.
Posted by Pastalaya
New Orleans
Member since Aug 2012
816 posts
Posted on 5/3/21 at 9:55 pm to
I have a gas one. Couldn’t imagine going back. It’a awesome
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