Is a tankless water heater worth it?

Question

I have an old water heater in my house, its about 23 years old believe it or not.

It works fine, but my wife and I are having a baby and I want to replace it with a tankless water heater so when we have more children our tank won't run out of hot water.

I was quoted about $2000-$3000.

Is it worth it? I don't know if I should replace it with a regular tank water heater or what!

Answer 1

Worth it yes yes yes. We had a Renai installed. It cost about $3000 (installed) . But we saved a lot on natural gas. Cut our water heating portion by about 80% I figure.

We never run out of hot water plus there have been times where I have run the dishwasher, washing machine and shower at the same time and have not had any problem maintaining hot water. Another plus is you don't have this bulky hot water heater using up space in your house and you are not getting 23 years worth of sludge from the tank. You also have the option of putting water temp controls in the bathrooms. So in the kids bathrooms you can set it so that they cannot scald themselves.
You have to watch out for hard water though it can hurt the system.

There are some new models on the market that are cheaper but I have heard some not so good things on them as far as reliability and performance.

If you plan to stay in the house for a while you will definitely get your investment back.

Answer 2

I have purchased three Paloma "on-demand" tankless water heaters for two different houses and I couldn't be more happy with them. They are virtually trouble-free. I have heard some bad reports about other brands. Paloma are Japanese, and the best quality. They are expensive but will pay for themselves in about 4 years. I will never go back to a tank-style water heater. If you can afford it, get the Paloma and you will never regret it. They make 3 different sizes. I have the smallest for my kitchen sink and garage sink. I have the largest for 3 bathrooms and a laundry room.

Answer 3

I was advised by a dealer that if you do a lot of laundry (More than 2 loads a day is what he considered a lot) and have a large or growing family, then it is not the best solution. A tank is better in that instance.

Answer 4

You need to know how much water it will heat in one minujte, if you run a dish washer you might not be able to wash clothes. so make sure you wont use more than it can supply

Answer 5

Only idf you plan to take short showers and are not planning to fill the bath tub.
It is a good solution for echonomic saving

Answer 6

Try the forums at http://www.suburbangarden.com/ they are geared more toward this type of questions