Tankless Water Heater

5 Responses to “Should I Replace My Conventional Hot Water Heater With One Of Those New “tankless” Electric Units?”

1. roadrunn
   December 3rd, 2009 @ 10:34 am

   They cost more initially, but they are incredibly more efficient.
   They do require maintenance due to hard water issues (if you have hard water), but a water softener will solve them.

2. 1hillbil
   December 3rd, 2009 @ 1:52 pm

   yes , yes, yes, did I mention yes.

3. Mike
   December 3rd, 2009 @ 4:41 pm

   I entertained the notion myself, and dismissed it for these reasons: Need a much higher electrical service to the house just to handle it (huge bucks); there’s only two of us plus a baby, so for now the tank (small 40 gallon) has no problem meeting our needs; we live in a winter climate, so for half the year any so-called heat loss simply heats our house (using a gas water tank). If you have an electric water tank, the first and last of these probably don’t apply, but you’ll still probably need the tank for some parts of your house anyway?

4. K
   December 3rd, 2009 @ 6:17 pm

   I think you get a tax break on the tankless units. You may have to double check since there’s different rules for different states. But the drawback is that at times, when I have the faucet on, the hot water will turn cold but it goes back after about 30 seconds. At least that’s what ours does.

5. Matt M
   December 3rd, 2009 @ 7:26 pm

   Just a thought, I have used “gas” tankless” for sometime now and they are a marked improvement to the tank models, but I continue to hear that the electric ones are still inferior to the electric tank heater. I’m guessing it is the speed at which a huge flame can heat up water verses the element in electric model. I would real feel around before switching to an electric tankless model
   Good Luck

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