Our water heater is just about ready to bite the dust. We have heard of the Tankless Water Heater, but don't know much about it. Is this something you would recommend?
I think there is a lot to know here about the Tankless waterheaters and I will try my best to explain it to you.
Since there is no storage tank in a tankless waterheater, the water is heated directly. The positive thing about this is that you will not get the standby heat loss that is usually associated with the typical storage water heaters.
Now when you turn on the hot water tap, cold water will travel through the pipe into the unit that will either be heated by an electric element or a gas burner.
What you get is a constant supply of hot water without the waiting time for a typical hot water tank to heat back up if too much hot water is used.
The critical thing is to make sure if you decide to go with one of these units is to make sure you have it sized right for your home. If the tankless waterheater is too small the flow rate of gallons per minute will be reduced and if you try to run a washer and take a shower at the same time, the unit may not be able to keep up. So you will probably hear the person taking the shower yell Yikes!
Going with a whole house type tankless waterheater should resolve this problem or in some cases you can go with multiple units which can handle different zones or connect them in parallel to meet your demands.
Depending on the size of the units, the demands of your home and the water usage, these units can be between 10% and 35% more efficient then standard units. If you use a lot of hot water, then this could end up being a big savings.
The electric whole house units will range in price from about $500.00 to $700 and the gas from $600 to $1,000. You may find prices higher or lower depending on where you are looking.
These prices are about 30% to 50% higher then standard hot water tanks, but the savings over the years can more then make up for the added cost of the units.
I am glad that you asked me about this because I realize that we need to get more information into our website on this subject.
I hope this helps with your decision.
Rick Maselli
Founder of Showroo411.com