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Tankless Water Heaters

Scott Denny
Scott Denny Member Posts: 124
in THE MAIN WALL
Three factors that drive up the cost of replacing a conventional water heater with a tankless unit are:
1)Initial cost of the heater. Because you will have to size the on demand heater for near maximum load (eg. 2 showers and a washing machine), for a family of four, it would be necessary to put in at least a 185MBTU heater and these are quite a bit more expendive then a 40 or 50 gallon tank type heater.
2)Because your new heater will require quite a bit more gas, chances are your present piping is too small and you will need to bring a new line from your meter to your tank. This could inflate your cost dubstancially.
3)Under present codes nationally, you will be required to replace your present flue with a stainless catagory III flue. Without a dite visit, there is no way of knowing how much this could cost.
All in all, even with a rebate, the difference in cost could take a very long time to recoupe.
BTW: Hot Rod's tip on the Webstone isolator kit for purging is sound advice.

Comments

  • Ed_30
    Ed_30 Member Posts: 4
    Tankless Water Heaters are they worth it?

    My 40 gal. A.O. Smith gas water heater is about to let go so I went to the local home centers to look into getting a replacement.

    While checking out the various models I noticed a tankless model. So I run home and do a search into tankless units. My utility is offering a $300 rebate on tankless units with a Energy Factor of 0.82 or higher.

    My question is has anyone here installed tankless units? Are they reliable and what brands do you recommend?

    Thanks for your feedback.
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    IF

    you have enough gas capacity, and flue capacity, as most are 150,000 BTU input and up. Your current heater may be 35- 40,000 BTU input.

    Also be aware of the amount of hot water they produce and at what delta T. if your incoming water gets real cold in winter months the output drops.

    Plan on 1.75 to 2 GPM, unless you go into larger BTU input models. Will your lifestyle get along with this DHW flow? Usually one hot water faucet or appliance at a time.

    They may need yearly cleaning or acid flushes if you have hard water. Plumb them with easy to use flush ports. I believe Webstone make a valve specfically for installing these with flush ports and caps.

    I'm all for saving energy, and if this is a good fit for your household, go for it :)

    hot rod

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