<p>My parents bought a tankless water heater last year. No idea what brand, but am sure it was top of the line. It takes forever to get hot water. Seriously. In addition, in the middle of a nice hot shower, the water will suddenly go cold. I had this happen multiple times when I stayed with them. Not sure if this was the “cold sandwich” that another poster describes, but it is very annoying. My mom is sorry that they bought it.</p>
<p>We also have the Rennai Tankless HW heaters in our beach house. It is amazing in that we never run out of hot water, even after 15 of us shower! We live in the house 3-4 months a year and it is new so I don’t have much experience with the downside yet. It does take a few minutes to reach the Master bath, up on the second floor (third level of house) but this dosen’t bug me.</p>
<p>^It takes a few minutes to get hot water with our old fashioned HW heater. I’m not seeing that as a big difference. If you want instant hot water, the point of source ones are your best bet.</p>
<p>In Asia,most everyone in a high-rise apt has tankless water heaters. Instead of one for the whole place, each bathroom and kitchen has its own mini sized heater so there’s no problems with cold gaps and long cold runs.</p>
<p>Since the heaters there are not retrofits, they are not as expensive.</p>
<p>cbreeze, I’ve actually been wondering about the feasibility of doing that in the house my girlfriend and I are working on upgrading. There’s only two bathrooms and the kitchen (where the washing machine is also located). Currently the water heater is in the kitchen as well, but we’re hoping to move it outside to free up a pantry’s worth of space. I’ll have to look into what sort of options there would be other than just moving everything outside…</p>
<p>Our hot water heater is almost 20 years old, so we considered replacing it a few years ago in hopes of getting a tax credit. At the time, only tankless home models were efficient enough for rebate, </p>
<p>For us, it did not seem worth it. One estimate for tankless systems was $4000 installed (vs $1000 probably for traditional - we still have not replaced it). Also, it seemed like there would be regular maintenance required - yuk!</p>
<p>RR, the ones in Asia hang on the wall and vent through a pipe or window because space is at a premium.</p>
<p>We have a Norwitz tankless water heater and are happy with it. Very reliable so far (5 plus years old). No issues when using multiple showers at the same time, but water does take a long time to get hot, especially first thing in the morning.</p>
<p>This is a good article comparing both Rinnai and Noritz water heaters:</p>
<p>[Noritz</a> vs. Rinnai](<a href=“http://www.hot-water-heaters-reviews.com/noritz-vs-rinnai.html]Noritz”>Noritz vs. Rinnai)</p>