Hot Water for Shared Washing Machine

[Nick T.]

I just bought a 4-unit apartment building. Landlord pays for water, tenants pay for power. There are 4 water heaters for the building.

I found out that the washing machine is hooked up to one of the tenants water heaters, so he is paying to heat the water for all of the tenants doing laundry. This isn't fair, so I need to get it fixed.

I'll try to meet a plumber on site next week, but I'm looking for some advice/recommendations on a solution. The washer is fairly old. I'm not sure how many gallons it uses per cycle, but I can do some googling to find out. I am looking for an economical, but low-maintenance solution for a water heater. Is a tankless a good idea? If not, what gallon capacity in a standard water heater is sufficient? How do you heat your washing machine water? Any suggestions and/or recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks all!