<p>I replaced my water heater not long ago after the last one failed after over 25 years. I considered tankless but only for a couple of minutes until I saw what the cost was for tankless over a conventional tank one.</p>
<p>Obviously the other factors of placement can come into play. I had no space issues but if I needed/wanted the space it was taking up it may be worth the additional cost.</p>
<p>Here is what happened today that makes my job so glamorous, once again. Not sure this is going to come out as hilarious as it was:</p>
<p>My husband dropped me off at the project and took the truck to a doctor appt. The porta potty is a mess right now (scheduled to be cleaned out tomorrow) and I refuse to use it. Well, of course as soon as he takes off I start panicking that I need to go to the bathroom. I have no means of transportation to get to a McDonald’s or something.</p>
<p>We bought an old Post Office white van that belongs to my lead. He very graciously offers to let me drive the van down to the Jack in the Box. I get the keys and get in. First thing is that he has modified the driver seat to be low because he is large and tall. My head is barely peering over the steering wheel. No AC in this van, so he has all the windows wide open. </p>
<p>I start the car and Mexican Pop blares at the loudest possible volume. I start driving and touch every button on the dang Swap Meet stereo he has installed in the van. It will not turn off no matter what I try - I cannot find any Power button. At this point I just need to get to a bathroom. So, here goes a Caucasian somewhat elderly soccer Mom driving a low rider van with Mexican music just blaring through the open windows!! </p>
<p>Pull into the McDonald’s and several younger women are in the parking lot and I just smile and wave :)</p>
<p>After I returned (again making sure everyone in the vicinity enjoys the music) I find out he has the stereo hard wired and you have to reach over to passenger area to switch it off - and my pushing all the buttons put me in bass/treble mode and it was no longer a volume knob! It was an adventure and the whole crew had a huge laugh at my expense.</p>
<p>Well, as long as you got to pee . . . .</p>
<p>Regarding tankless water heaters, I had conversations with two different plumbers about putting one in to replace an aging traditional water heater (both pre- and post-failure). Both said that putting tankless in is smart when you are doing new construction, but that doing it in existing construction just invites problems with venting, etc. and really jacks up the cost. Since I’m an empty nester, they said any savings I realized would be minimal and not worth the extra expense.</p>
<p>I would love a tankless water heater for the simple reason that to get to the fickle sump pump I have to squeeze past the water heater tank. Oddly, that is my job. Not the dad’s or the kid’s…</p>
<p>If the tankless heater is installed exterior then no venting through roof required, but I’m guessing you cannot do that in areas with cold climate. The system is sized as follows :</p>
<p>How many water features might be run at aime time, nbr of showers in house, etc. = gallons per minute</p>
<p>Hot water temp required minus water temp coming from cold water source = Temp Rise needed</p>
<p>So an external system in cold climates would have a large temp rise required, not to mention the whole unit might freeze.</p>
<p>Even with external system, someone needs to get under house, assuming you have a crawl space, and run a new gas line up through a wall and outside. You also need an electrical outlet. So you have holes in Drywall and stucco exterior to get installed.</p>
<p>
Oh, it came across as pretty hilarious. Lol</p>
<p>My first house used a Paloma Pak, a tankless water heater, as the boiler for a FHW heating system.</p>
<p>It was not really designed for that kind of load, though, and was constantly breaking down, and was very expense to fix. I liked the concept, but it didn’t work out.</p>
<p>I had a tankless water heater many years ago in England. Really liked it.</p>
<p>We just put a new water heater in and for some reason the pressure throughout the house is fine but in our master bath it is crazy low - just for the hot water - plenty of cold but if I try to warm it up it slows to a trickle (yet the sins in the same room are fine. My husband put the tank in so we may have to call in a plumber but he hates to pay to have stuff done. I was dreaming of a tankless heater as I tried to rinse the soap off with the dribble of luke warm water this morning.</p>
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<p>In my last project, some one in the trade offered me a tankless water heater for $400, it is listed for $1200. I jumped on the opportunity and start installing it. Was found that to retrofit the heater was more than its worth.</p>
<ol>
<li>The heater requires 3/4" gas line, well, the traditional ones had only 1/2"</li>
<li>The venting parts cost more than I expected($800) and the venting requirements are pretty much ruled out my installation.</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, I did not install the tankless water heater.</p>
<p>I was wondering why the unit cost so low…</p>
<p>btw, I sold the tankless water heater for $300 on Craigslist, several months later. No one wants it… And I thought I got a bargain :)</p>
<p>Outside tankless water heater is just an invite for vandalism.</p>
<p>Good morning, coral brook. Or should I say, Buenos Dias ? LOL</p>
<p>Just letting you all, like Tempemom did, that I’m lurking and enjoying. This is quite a learning experience.</p>
<p>Are all tankless heaters gas? Then that won’t work where I am. Our neighborhood is all electric.</p>
<p>Artlover, I think you’ve pointed out one of the key reasons that a tankless is hard to retrofit into an existing water heater installation. 3/4" gas line. It’s going to be an issue to change 1/2" gas line to 3/4" gas line whether the tank is inside or outside. Unless gas lines are easily accessible back to the main line - like a crawlspace, or gas lines are in attic or running at the top of someone’s basement.</p>
<p>
There are electric tankless heaters, but they use hella electricity.</p>
<p>Think multiple 40 amp or 60 amp breakers and 6 or 8 gauge wire. If you don’t have a 200 amp service it is probably not feasible, and even that may not be enough.</p>
<p>Flow and temperature rise are problems with electric heaters as well, they just can’t put out the energy as fast as gas heaters, so unless you have pretty warm water coming into the house, and only take one shower at a time with a low flow head, you will likely be disappointed.</p>
<p>For example, if your incoming water is at 50 degrees, and you need 3 gallons per minute at 100 degrees for a shower (if I remember my units correctly):</p>
<p>3 gals/min * 8.3 pounds/gal * 50 degrees * 60 minutes/hour * .3 watts/BTU = about 22,000 watts of power.</p>
<p>At 240 volts this requires over 90 amps of current. </p>
<p>Even with a 200 amp service this might cause problems.</p>
<p>You also have to be careful with the type of faucets and shower heads you put in a house that has a tankless water heater. I had a buyer call up after one month in the house complaining. I had installed two fancy sink faucets that were very low flow. Turns out that the faucet did not draw enough hot water to trigger the tankless to send anything. The only solution was to turn on both sink faucets at the same time to get hot water into the faucets.</p>
<p>All this talk is starting to make me double-think my decision for a tankless. Maybe I need to build an outdoor shed and just shove in a regular water heater 
If the large water heater is surrounded by a ‘blanket’, they do fine outside in our climate.</p>
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<p>Sounds like a good idea.</p>
<p>And yes, the story was hilarious. 
No place to go to the bathroom, on the site all day: reminds me of when H and I were renovating our first shack, I mean house.</p>
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You just have to think like a man.</p>
<p>Walk around the back of that garage that is going to get torn down, and…</p>