Tankless water heaters ........

R

rgp

Well-known Member
Location
Milford,OH
I'll try to keep it short. My water heater [tank-type] started leaking, called a company and [yes I chose] a tankless type as a replacement. I am not happy at all with it, it takes about a 50-60 second count for the water to even become warm. Also not happy with the kitchen sink faucet I bought, it is [backwards/reversed] hot [such as it is is to the right & the cold is to the left !!

Haven't paid for it yet , i might request the tankless be removed & another tank-type , be installed and of course a correction on the faucet function.

Just wondering if anyone else has a tankless & if they are satisfied ?
 

I had three of them in Florida, and I generally liked them. Take a bit of getting used to, the temperature is flow related, the higher the flow the lower the temperature. So for showering I just turned the hot on, no cold, and adjusted the flow to the temperature I wanted.

I think the more up to date ones have a bit more temperature control, but still they do have an upper limit for heating.

These were all electric heaters, and I would do it again in Florida.

My travel trailer has a gas tankless heater, it is great, I can just set the temperature and that's what the water comes out at.

When I got to Utah I wanted to go with a gas unit, but the plumber talked me out of it. One problem he pointed out was that the water temperature into the house varies a lot more here than in Florida, making adjustment more difficult. He also said that with our hard water they tend to scale up quickly. So the only one I have today is in the small trailer.

I'd ask around to others who have them in your area, with your water. See what their experiences have been.

Also be aware that the electric units draw a lot of power. 70 to 100 amps is not uncommon.
 
We are on our second tankless water heater, both gas. The first one lasted 6 years before the heat exchanger sprang a leak. The heat exchanger was copper. The parts were still under warranty, but the labor cost me $450. That heat exchanger lasted 3 more years and it sprang a leak. We replaced the heater with a new one with a stainless steel exchanger at a cost of $3500. It lasted a little over a year and it sprang a leak. Again, the parts were under warranty but labor wasn't. This time it was $950. We had to wait a week for ordered parts.

A regular water heater is pretty simple. They generally last until they rust out in 10 years or so. They can easily be replaced when they do. A tankless heater is a complex device with many potential failures. Repair is expensive. Since they don't store any hot water, they are sensitive to flow rate. Most will shut down if the flow drops below .5 gal per minute, like when you are taking a cool shower. Suddenly it gets really cool. And, if the flow changes, it takes a little time for the heater to compensate. So we have to be careful not to use any additional hot water when someone is in the shower.

If you do have hard water, they need to be flushed with acid about once a year. That can run about $250, or you can buy a pump and do it yourself. Some require you to install a special filter that is supposed to reduce scaling. The cartridge runs about $100 and needs to be changed every year.

They do save gas. But the newer tank type heaters have better insulation than they used to. So, I don't know how much saving there actually is. You never run out of hot water, if that's important to you. Personally, I regret buying one.
 

I can understand you not being happy having to wait a minute to get warm water. We don't have gas here (unless you get LPG), so most people use oil (paraffin). I assume this is what you call a 'tanked' boiler. A burner heats a thermal water store to around 80-90 deg C and when you turn on the hot tap, this stored water is pumped through a heat exchanger which heats the cold water. This is blended through a thermostatic mixer to 40 C and on to the taps. The burner lights to maintain the store temp. This gives near instant hot water at a constant temp.

As for the taps being the wrong way round, surely this id just a matter of swapping the pipes round.
 
A plumber tried to sell me a tankless water heater 12 years ago. It was 3 times the price of a gas one. I said, "No, thanks."
I got a big regular water heater & it's been fine for more than 10 years & my gas bill is not high enough to justify the expense.
Besides, my plumber threw the water heater in when I had a complete copper re-pipe.
 
win231 said:
A plumber tried to sell me a tankless water heater 12 years ago. It was 3 times the price of a gas one.
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I think tankless is probably always more expensive than the old tank variety. When you take all costs into account I don't think you can save enough in energy costs to pay for one.

The primary advantages are unlimited hot water and a much smaller footprint. To keep my wife's oversized tub in hot water we bought two of the standard gas water heaters. Still cost less than an inline heater, but takes up a lot more space.
 
My tank type was ten years old .... second one since the house was built [2001] . Sounds like I should have asked ..... before? But as I said , it was leaking .... and the idea of 50 gal of water in my house [it is in my laundry/utility room] didn't appeal to me at all.

I also bought a whole house conditioner / filter ...... hoping to cut down on the scaling ?

As for the faucet, they said "some" are plumbed in reverse , on the inside . ?? I said .. that is backwards and not accecptable at all.

So, for now I stopped payment on the check. I'm sure I'll be hearing from them .
 
rgp said:
My tank type was ten years old .... second one since the house was built [2001] . Sounds like I should have asked ..... before? But as I said , it was leaking .... and the idea of 50 gal of water in my house [it is in my laundry/utility room] didn't appeal to me at all.

I also bought a whole house conditioner / filter ...... hoping to cut down on the scaling ?

As for the faucet, they said "some" are plumbed in reverse , on the inside . ?? I said .. that is backwards and not accecptable at all.

So, for now I stopped payment on the check. I'm sure I'll be hearing from them .
Click to expand...
The only whole house filters that will reduce scaling are either a water softener system or a reverse osmosis type. Both are pretty expensive. There are some small flow through filters that are supposed to work by electrostatic charge or magnets but it's a scam.

Tank type water heaters have a sacrificial zinc bar inside to prevent rust. Eventually it gets used up and then the tank goes. Theoretically, you can replace the zinc bar, but nobody does.

Plumbed in reverse? Time to find an honest plumber. Good luck with that.
 
Well the plumbing company showed back up today ? They brought another identical faucet , installed it ....... and it didn't work correctly either ?! So, they went back to their supplier & got a slightly different one ,different brand as well [Delta] It works fine , as it should .

As for the tankless heater ? I really cannot blame them for that as i did choose it. I'll just have to get used too it, and hope it is trouble free for many years to come.

Thanks for the replies , and the opinions ..... if the tankless does fail ....... I do think I will go back to a tank type though.
 
rgp said:
I'll try to keep it short. My water heater [tank-type] started leaking, called a company and [yes I chose] a tankless type as a replacement. I am not happy at all with it, it takes about a 50-60 second count for the water to even become warm. Also not happy with the kitchen sink faucet I bought, it is [backwards/reversed] hot [such as it is is to the right & the cold is to the left !!

Haven't paid for it yet , i might request the tankless be removed & another tank-type , be installed and of course a correction on the faucet function.

Just wondering if anyone else has a tankless & if they are satisfied ?
Click to expand...
I've seen many unhappy and not satisfied at all with the tankless, including a laundromat that usually does not have hot water available for most of its washing machines.
The gas lines, vent lines, electric lines, and water lines all may have needed expensive changes, and still below expected results, but still very expensive also.
 
Grampa Don said:
A regular water heater is pretty simple. They generally last until they rust out in 10 years or so. They can easily be replaced when they do. A tankless heater is a complex device with many potential failures.
Click to expand...
Where I lived a few years ago, the water heater was from 1964 and still working good.
Now I hear people are replacing all kinds of water heaters, and most appliances, in ten years or less. Sad.
 
rgp said:
I'll just have to get used too it, and hope it is trouble free for many years to come.
Click to expand...
It may well be, the ones I had in Florida were.

rgp said:
the idea of 50 gal of water in my house [it is in my laundry/utility room] didn't appeal to me at all.
Click to expand...
No necessarily a bad thing. When I had a water outage it was useful to have the extra water, conveniently stored.
 
Just Jeff said:
Where I lived a few years ago, the water heater was from 1964 and still working good.
Now I hear people are replacing all kinds of water heaters, and most appliances, in ten years or less. Sad.
Click to expand...

Sad indeed ....... I think most things are planned for ten years or less ..... Keeps the ol' economy a buzzin'. I suppose.
 
rgp said:
Well , yeah I suppose you're right.
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I sort of wish I wasn't. If you find an honest trade or tradesman, or company, hang on to them as long as they remain true. It is a lot more difficult to find honesty now-a-days anywhere, than when the song lamented the loss of honesty decades ago (I forget the name of the song, something with "honesty" in the title or first lyrics)
 

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