Tankless waterheater

Has anyone consider installing one of those.

My hotwater tank is rusting from the inside, so I figure it is not going to last too long. Thus, I'm planning to replace it with a tankless to save on some energy cost.

Does anyone know how much it will cost to have one of them installed.

Also, whats the difference between the different brands listed on the following website

My neighbor had one of those, but he doesn't like it because it has more problems than coventional tanks. He has since switched to a coventional set up.

I did a lot of research on this at one point. I'm pretty sure it was the Takagi units that turned out to be the best in terms of quality, feeatures and opinions from others. Of course i was looking for natural gas so they were ideal.

I'm sure if you get a really cheap one you will have lots of problems and possible headaches. But the Takagi's seemed to be well worth it. Some people are turned off by the fact that you cannot have two showers and a dishwasher running at the same time with a tankless water heater. But for the energy savings i was willing to wait until after my shower to wash my clothes :-)

Check out what it needs in terms of electrical wiring - I imagine you'll need to get an electrician in there....

I've used tankless waterheaters in Singapore, China & HK and they seem to work well. They were either natural gas or propane. I really wouldn't want electrical wires near my shower.

Also, the setup used overseas is to have a small unit in each room that requires hotwater. There is no "main" heater. I would assume the biggest drawback is the expense of running NG lines to every washroom, kitchen and basement and buying a bunch of little units. The great thing is that each room can have unlimited instant hotwater. There's no need to wait for hotwater to flush out 40 or 50m of cold water so you save a little energy and water that way.

It's just too bad that the costs are significantly higher than a standard hot water heater. A 50US gallon tank could be installed for about $1000 but a Rennai high-flow system costs $6000! Or at least that's what the builder wanted for the upgrade.

The amount of juice required for an electric one (one that will heat the water well) may require an upgrade to your panel. Due diligence on this one.

Home Depot carries the Paloma units. The smaller one rated for one shower goes for around $900 and the 2-shower model is abour $1400. The venting kit is extra on top of that. Installation not included.

I need to replace my hot water heater tank also and I haven't decided on whether to go tankless or not, although I am leaning towards a direct vent tank model ($619 at Home Depot). The reason being that it has no electrical requirements. The natural gas tankless models I have seen require an electronic ignition, so in the event of a power failure, you won't have any hot water. There is at least one model that uses a battery though if you are really concerned about this.

I wonder when government or gas companies will be giving rebates for these units, just like they are giving rebates to high efficiency furnace or programmable thermostats.

Originally Posted by TeDoresc

Home Depot carries the Paloma units. The smaller one rated for one shower goes for around $900 and the 2-shower model is abour $1400. The venting kit is extra on top of that. Installation not included.

I need to replace my hot water heater tank also and I haven't decided on whether to go tankless or not, although I am leaning towards a direct vent tank model ($619 at Home Depot). The reason being that it has no electrical requirements. The natural gas tankless models I have seen require an electronic ignition, so in the event of a power failure, you won't have any hot water. There is at least one model that uses a battery though if you are really concerned about this.

If I'm not mistaken, a direct vent has a "chimney", it vents from the top and the exhaust has to go straight up. A power vent unit can be vented on the side, as required in a basement.

With the cost of gas going up, by one that's effective. Water heaters are energy hungry.