Tankless on-demand water heaters?

[Marianne]

We have really hard water. If we were in a different location, I would have the tankless unit.

We had a fountain in the house for a while. It didn't take too long before the pump crapped out. I was shocked at how much mineral deposits were everywhere, plumbing, etc. I used our tap water to add water to it. Since we have filters, water softener, the whole schmear - well, like I said, I was shocked. There would be the same buildup in a tankless unit, too. JMO

Not as much as you would think. I've had mine for a long time and once a year we drain it and run cleaner thru. there is not much build up as it is not where the water can evaporate like your open fountain. We have all plastic piping now thanks to hubby. and no longer have pipe sediment coming thru like we did with the big copper and iron and who knows what other types of piping. I do have a sediment filter for the whole house tho now too.
For as long as I've had my tankless it still heats the water like it did when it was first installed. There is no sediment in the unit to set up-no tank to fill with the sediment either. as always YMMV

Emerald, that's pretty good to know! Thanks!

 

[Emerald]

We have really hard water. If we were in a different location, I would have the tankless unit.

We had a fountain in the house for a while. It didn't take too long before the pump crapped out. I was shocked at how much mineral deposits were everywhere, plumbing, etc. I used our tap water to add water to it. Since we have filters, water softener, the whole schmear - well, like I said, I was shocked. There would be the same buildup in a tankless unit, too. JMO

Not as much as you would think. I've had mine for a long time and once a year we drain it and run cleaner thru. there is not much build up as it is not where the water can evaporate like your open fountain. We have all plastic piping now thanks to hubby. and no longer have pipe sediment coming thru like we did with the big copper and iron and who knows what other types of piping. I do have a sediment filter for the whole house tho now too.
For as long as I've had my tankless it still heats the water like it did when it was first installed. There is no sediment in the unit to set up-no tank to fill with the sediment either. as always YMMV

Emerald, that's pretty good to know! Thanks!

I do have to say that I go thru a ton of white vinegar on my glass wear and to clean my shower heads and washers. I do get build up on places where it can evaporate!
But it is the best tasting water around. I have family and friends who will stop here and fill up when going on vacations as it doesn't get icky after being in the big 5 gallon water jug things as I take 10 gallons with me every time we go on vacation. but makes ice cubes that tend to be a bit cloudy. lots of calcium and lime and a touch of iron.

 

[Nifty]

We seriously looked at tankless waterheaters when we built our addition onto my parent's house. I think they are brilliant... it just doesn't make sense to store 60 gallons of hot water for when you need it.

We expected that the initial extra cost would be offset by future savings and were all set to move forward. We unfortunately ran into problems because the contractor's plumber wanted us to pay even more than the going rate because he'd never put one in before (um... why should we pay extra for you to be educated learning to put in our system!?!?) and we were in a big hurry to get it done so we didn't have time to shop around for another plumber.

The next go-around I'd love to do thermal solar hot water heating combined with a tankless system!

 

[Joel_BC]

I'm really happy with this discussion. Especially the input from people who've had experience with the tankless system.

Having read this thread, I'll initiate a little more discussion with my neighbors who have chosen to replace their tankless water heaters with conventional ones, and see what they have to say in response. (My feeling Nifty is look a bit further. Not to say that the tankless systems are a big disappointment, because they may not be. But on the other hand, there may be reasons not to go with them under some circumstances.)

 

[Hinotori]

I'm really happy with this discussion. Especially the input from people who've had experience with the tankless system.

Having read this thread, I'll initiate a little more discussion with my neighbors who have chosen to replace their tankless water heaters with conventional ones, and see what they have to say in response. (My feeling Nifty is look a bit further. Not to say that the tankless systems are a big disappointment, because they may not be. But on the other hand, there may be reasons not to go with them under some circumstances.)

Friend of ours put in a tankless a few years ago. He said it didn't do them any good in savings. He has two daughters, though. So they may be using a lot of water.

We've been talking about getting one in a house for over a decade. When we had the rewire done, there was some issue getting the power lines out to the extension where the laundry room and water tank is since there isn't any space in the ceiling to run anything, and there wasn't space to run anything else though the one spot. In the end we decided to wait a bit more until we decide what we are going to do with the house. When we put in the shop, it will have a full bathroom so we will put one in there. No point in having a tank out there that isn't used very often.

 

[Joel_BC]

Having checked in with my neighbors on this again, here are some bits of advice from their experience. The propane required (for a household of four or so people) is comparatively expensive, in our locality. IOW, if you have a choice there is no $$ savings by having the propane-fired tankless type, in comparison to an electric water-tank heater. And the electric tankless units are generally more expensive to purchase in the first place than the propane-burning ones.

One neighbor said the propane-fired tankless units require venting and monitoring around issues related to carbon-monoxide and carbon-dioxide gases. The other neighbor said propane units can be fussy and seem to need occasional repairs and replacement of parts.

Again, this isn't definitive. Just adding some details to what these neighbors had previously told me.