Our current one is 21 years old and, I just discovered, not to code as it’s not bolted to a structure as required here in earthquake country.
If we go with a traditional hot water heater, we’ll have to have concrete poured so it can move locations to enable it to be secured. Our only issue currently is that it takes forever for the hot water to get to the master bath. During the drought it was a painful sight to waste water (and a pain to try to collect it) while waiting for the water to heat up.
Anyone been through this and have suggestions about brands, capabilities, solution to the takes too long to heat problem? Tankless seems attractive but doesn’t solve the too slow issue and I’m getting conflicting information about recirculators.
My bil has a recirculater at his cottage. You get hot water right away, we usually stay in the bedroom farthest from the hot water heater and only a minute or two before the water was hot!
I don’t have any information about tankless but it sounds like a good solution
We have a recirculator as well and it’s awesome. You get hot water from any faucet in the house in about 2s. However I believe the house has to be plumbed for it, as the hot water must flow in a loop from the heater to all the faucets then back and around again.
Funny, I was just settling down to email water heater specs to the contractor. I am installing a power vent, so as to get ride of my chimney and then put heating and aircon feed to the redone attic. Rheem PROG40 is what was recommended by the HVAC person as more reliable than an AOSmith. Opinions? Obviously, this is a small house.
In other countries, each bathroom and kitchen has its own tankless heater, so hot water is instant. Why is this not done in North America?
We just replaced a water heater. The contractor who installed it recommended a recirculator pump for us. He said it’s no big deal to install (asked if DH was handy). We’re considering it but haven’t priced it. Master bath and kitchen are the opposite side of the house from the water heater.
Tankless isn’t a viable option for us (house is all-electric). We looked into a heat pump hybrid water heater since we live in a hot climate, but it ended up being too much extra expense to make it cost effective.
the tankless style were in vogue for a while but re-fitting a home usually requires special electrical rework, additional plumbing and vent rework, in addition to the cost of the unit, and the cost in those cases outweigh the benefit given the time for the ROI.
OP, do you have gas fueled hot water heat?
We did in our house and when we replaced the heater we also replaced the hot water tank to a double stainless tank as an indirect zone off the boiler. I don’t remember the name but the way it is designed, you never run out of hot water. The boiler heats the water whenever the tank get below the set point.
We did compare with the tankless, as that was our original intent but the costs were quite different. This system met the goals we had: don’t run out of hot water, keep costs low.
Great feedback. We do have gas fueled water heat and the plumber who was here replacing the broken garbage disposal took a quick look and said he thought our vents (?) might work for a tankless. He’s coming back Wednesday with their plumber who specializes in tankless to look again and give me a quote. I wanted to be armed with more info before then.
It does sound like a tankless with a recirculator, if not cost prohibitive, would be the way to go. I don’t like that you only know your traditional hot water heater needs to be replaced once it has made a leaky mess. Plumber said there are new tankless that you can control through an app; if you’re away you can turn it off (?)/lower the temperature, etc. and it alerts you if there’s a problem.
The vents are for any gas combustion appliance. If they’re not there, the plumber could put them in but you’d need a roofer to make sure the juncture with the roof is all sealed well.
Let me know what your plumber recommends. We wanted to replace an electric tank hot water heater with a tankless one and our plumber said that only gas tankless ones work well. So we’d need to run a gas line and it would have to be a big gas line, 1" in diameter or so. And, it would have to vent out through the roof, not just into the attic. I wouldn’t mind paying for the vents but that gas line would just ruin too much.
Following this thread now too because I have the same concern as @collage1:
“I don’t like that you only know your traditional hot water heater needs to be replaced once it has made a leaky mess.”
My indirect hot water heater is 18 years old, and I keep wondering when it will leak. I wish there were some advance warning, such as less hot water or anything.
We thought about getting a tankless system and went with a new tank. The main reason is to be able to have hot showers during power outages. 75 gallons - yikes, that replacement was expensive.
We have a recirculating pump and I have hot water in seconds. We just replaced our 75 gal a few months ago. My sister switched to tankless when she did her remodel. It gave her space to move her washer and dryer indoors. What I like about the tanked heater is that if an earthquake damages the water lines we have the water heater water.
My D’s Bf worked as plumbers assistant one summer and they only would do tankless as they are much lighter in weight.
@mominva, what is an indirect water heater and why did you select it? I’m not sure what you mean by ‘no glass rupture’ as I am unaware that my current, traditional one has any glass.
@BB, OK, hadn’t thought about it but tankless is electric? Good thing for us to think about as we do lose power sometimes and I have always appreciated that we could still shower comfortably.
So, if we elect to get a recirculator (recirculating pump?) it can be used with both a traditional water heater or tankless? If so, I’m wondering if we’re better off with the traditional with a recirculator…
Really appreciate the help, the shared experience and the education.
Another thought. Some tankless heaters come equipped with a backflow valve. That dang thing needs to be tested annually to comply with local laws. $50-150 for the privilege. Make sure it is not the case for you.
@collage1, indirect water heaters do not have their own pilot light. They are heated as the first zone off the boiler for the hot water heat system in the house. There are two stainless steel tank within a tank and the boiler feeds hot water to surround the inner tank. The design keeps the hot water hot for much longer and there is a thermostat sensor in the inner tank that triggers the heat zone when the water temperature gets to your set point.
We chose it after reading reviews of both systems; it was more energy efficient, much less expensive than the tankless, and we didn’t need the extra space in the utility room.
Traditional hot water heaters had a pilot light and burner heat the water in a glass tank within an insulated sleeve; when the glass failed there was a flood.
ETA- this is only an option in homes with gas fueled hot water baseboard or radiator heating.
@collage1 - tankless hot water heaters can be gas or electric. I’m not sure if the gas ones can work during a power outage- if they have a pilot light or not. It may be that the recirculator will not work during an outage.
@Iglooo My pump is very small, about the size of a large apple or maybe a small grapefruit. It hums since it’s a pump but is not particularly loud. Quieter than a hair dryer on low, maybe similar in volume to a portable fan on medium. Ours is outside so we don’t hear it.