A client just called me from the mainland asking what I knew about “Tankless” Water Heaters. I have not worked with any so I thought I would put the question out to you guys and see what pluses and minuses you have to say about them. The client is located in Oakland, CA., so natural gas is not a problem like over here. Mahalo in advance for any advise we can give him.
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Replies
Alex Wilson provides a good list of the advantages and disadvantages of instantaneous water heaters here:
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/storage-vs-tankless-water-heaters
Martin Holladay, senior editor
http://www.GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
If the search function here happens to be working you can search for "tankless" and get LOTS of discussion. Net:
In the "average" situation tankless saves little, if any, energy, and may use more in some situations. It's more expensive to install and maintain (often gas pipes and flue must be enlarged), and does not get the hot water to you any faster. An undersized unit can result in cold showers and the like.
Tankless is an advantage if you need the space, and it can save a fair amount of money if you have a situation where hot water use is highly intermittent (eg, a weekend cabin). Also an advantage if there are a lot of people in the house and you'd frequently run out of hot water with a regular tank.
Be leery of a tankless if you have frequent power outages and want to have hot water when power is out.
Mahalo to you both, I forwarded these comments on to the clients.
ditto DanH. If the hot water use is normal throughout the day and a normal daily type of use pattern, tankless will not be particularly beneficial. Forget any talk about 'big savings' for the average homeowner. These systems can be very nice, but IMO they are often sold boasting big energy savings.
Well, they have decided based on all of your comments to go with a standard water heater like they have. Mahalo to all.
WOW!, I'm surprised! I
WOW!, I'm surprised! I installed a gas fired instant water heater and the savings were big. I think tank type gas fired water heaters should be outlawed. Next time you go on vacation, think about that water heater firing up every day, four of five times a day, just incase.
The savings are real. I love them and won't have a house without it.
My two cents.
Lots of people have installed tankless units and seen no savings, or had their fuel bill actually go up. Depends on the circumstances.
When I moved into a new apartment in 1972 I took showers for two days (with hot water) before I realized the water heater was set to "pilot". Even back then the water heater was insulated that well -- the pilot was able to heat the water over a period of weeks, and the stored heat provided two days worth of showers.
I have talked to several heating guys about the tankless idea. They both were leary of it for the same reason, one that I have not heard here. They said that the manufacturers keep going out of business and good luck with getting parts. In each case, they had to tell a previous customer that the parts were unavailable. Anyone have an opinion?