Should I go with a tankless water heater?

Question

I have had my water heater in my house since it was built in the late 90s and am looking to replace it in the next couple of months before it decides to fail on its own. I currently have a tank, but I'm looking to go tankless and am wondering what everyone's opinion is on tank vs tankless. It would seems like tankless is the better option: longer lasting, saves more energy, smaller, and the unit really doesn't cost that much anymore.

Any thoughts?

Mike Wood · Answer

@Kyle Keller  Having owned both, I would not suggest tankless water heaters.  While they may save money, when they have problems, they are easily and cheaply fixed.  I have owned three (1 bosch electric and 2 Rheem gas), and all three failed, and were uneconomical to repair (PC board required replacement, which would have taken weeks for parts and exceeded to cost of a new unit). I have 13 tank water heaters currently, and they are very simple and parts to fix (assuming the tank does not rust out) can be found anywhere and replaced with simple tools.

Is it possible that you will have 10+ years of service from a tankless water heater without problems, sure, but I have not had such such luck.  Also, if you are paying someone to replace the water heater, switching to tankless will be alot of extra expense, as you need larger electrical wiring and circuits (if electric), larger gas lines and electric service (if gas), as well as all new connection plumbing.  A replacement tank unit should be an easy swap.

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

My trip into the tankless world was not good. I had them in my primary in California. Three gas tankless heaters failed in 5 years. Two of them were RHeem, don't recall the third. One was replaced under warranty but still had to be picked up and installed. Oh and a circulation pump failed too(700 bucks). But wait there's more!

The biggest pain was not the money it was the constant resetting of the circuit boards which would fail to turn on the heater element. The unit was in the basement and you never knew when that would happen. My wife and kids had to learn to program the stupid thing too when I was out of town.

I planned to toss the fourth one and go back to a water tank heater since the duct work was still in place. But we sold the house instead. Our new primary has a giant electric tank in the main house and a regular sized tank in the guest house! Happy days! Anyway that's my story.

James Mcsweeney · Answer

@Kyle Keller Tankless water heater‘s are very efficient, and will provide endless amounts of hot water, providing you have electricity or gas. They do not store hot water, but simply heated as you need it. They also take up considerably less space in your hot water closet, allowing you to gain storage space.The cons about hot water heaters are that it takes a couple of seconds of running the water to get the heater going, and the time to the fixture is usually a second or two more.

Tammy Mason · Answer

I had a tankless installed during some plumbing/HVAC work this summer. We keep it at 120 degrees. Works great. The shower is hot in about 3 seconds.

Steve K. · Answer

We have a 4 plex with 4 tankless water heaters installed by the previous owner. They are very high-end units and you'd think they would be great, but these things have given me nothing but fits. They need a certain flow rate for the heating element to engage, and the sink faucets, tub spouts and shower heads all have different flow rates so it's super tricky to adjust them so that the tenants can get hot water from every plumbing fixture. I finally figured it out, but it was a steep learning curve. I had to learn German and become an expert in fluid mechanics ;).

Also we have hard water and these units don't like getting their minerals at all. I called the company and they said to flush it once a month. That's not going to happen in this case. Maybe if it was in my primary residence I would do that but I'm not going into all 4 of these units and bugging the tenants monthly to flush their water heaters, what a total PITA.

I've had a couple other issues such as air supply needing adjusting, sensors failing, etc. and every time it takes forever to resolve. I know plenty of great plumbers, but they all refuse to work on these things nor do they know anyone who will, so I'm stuck tinkering with them myself every time. It's like working on a Ferrari compared to an old Chevy pickup: good luck finding parts or an affordable technician. For these reasons I prefer the old-fashioned tanks that are simple and do their job reliably without any fuss.

Matt M. · Answer

@Kyle Keller

I looked into an electrical tankless. Until I found it it needed 4 spaces in my panel.

Joe Funari · Answer

@Kyle Keller for a primary residence I would strongly recommend. I installed one in my primary residence to replace 2 water heaters. Best move I ever made. But for rentals stay with the traditional tank water heater unless you have some high end very large vacation property that you AirBNB. Especially in a cold climate like Park City, UT. The guests will be grateful they wont have to wait for a hot shower after a day of skiing (or on the beach in HI).

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I haven't personally experienced any savings. I do know they have a hard time keeping up with the demand of a single-family home.

Domenick T. · Answer

I've used them in rentals with very tight spaces to allow for washer/dryer.  They are expensive and difficult to find qualified technicians.  I wouldn't use them unless space demands it and there is a payback (as was the case in my situation).

Filipe Pereira · Answer

@Kyle Keller - listen to @Mike Wood - those are years of wisdom speaking!

When a traditional water heater goes out, it's 1,000 to 1,200 to get a new one. When an issue arrises with a tankless one...well, get your wallet out and hope for the best.

Not only will the upfront costs be cheaper, but the cost to maintain the traditional units over their lifetime should be cheaper as well. We have a few Navien units spread across our Connecticut portfolio, and while they are great when they work, they are miserable when they don't. Furthermore, not every plumber is trained or equipped to work on the Navien units, making it harder to find techs when something does break.

If you plan on owning the property longer than the offered warranty on the tankless unit I would go with a traditional water heater.

Should I go with a tankless water heater?

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