Was considering tankless water heater

[Microman]

Was ready to get estimate for tankless water heater for this house built in 1952. One of the first questions asked on the phone is so we have copper or galvanized pipes, and since we have galvanized and complete repipe would. E necessary. Then there is the fact that we have hard water , another strike against tankless

Any thought?

[Don C]

Venting requires poking a hole in the wall and running a pipe up the outside. I don't know how long that outside pipe has to be; poking the hole through the foundation ended the conversation for me. That said, placement in (i presume) the basement is a consideration.

[Bernie]

Placement is most important.
If electric, your service my need to be upgraded.

The kind of pipe you have is bullshit.

[davemchine]

Endless hot water was the best thing we ever did to upgrade this house. With three ladies in the house we never had enough hot water. Too bad i5 sounds like a challenge at your house.

[Bill in NC]

Skip the tankless and stick with the tank.

Cheaper to buy/install & lower maintenance.

[Zoidberg]

I'll start by saying my house was a relatively new build (last 25 years) so I didn't face any piping issues.

Being a family of 5 when we first moved in here, it was a godsend to have tankless. The unit in place was an older model (and this wasn't its original house) but it continued to work for a few years before needing replacement. The Rinnai we replaced it with lasted about 12 years. Just had a new one installed and it's working far better than the Rinnai ever did (it includes a re-circulatory setup).

Regarding that; the biggest problem we had with it was that the kitchen faucet would sometimes take many minutes for truly hot water to reach it. Once it did, it would remain hot for as long as we washed dishes/etc. But it was a long run from the Tankless to the sink and it was an issue.

Beyond that, and again -- I have kids (now all college-aged, and only one has moved out thus far) -- it is absolutely wonderful to never run out of hot water, and know that no matter when I get to take a shower, there's going to be hot water.

Ours is in the attic. I've seen some units installed in the garage and I wish ours would have been like that for a few reasons.

It's expensive (or much more so than a traditional tank heater, more appropriately said) and they don't last forever (though they seem to be more resilient to a traditional, given that you have routine maintenance done to it -- keep that in mind), but it's a good choice for our family.

[Ombligo]

ours is going on 12 years (takagi OS3 gas), mounted outside for direct venting. Like zoidberg the only complaint is it takes 2-3 minutes to get hot water to the master bath and kitchen (both are at the opposite end of the house) but that was an issue with the water tank as well.

Electric installation can be an issue if you need a new panel put in. I suggested to just have a propane tank buried in the yard for one - cheaper than electric work, even over time.

Pipes are going to be your issue though.That may make the idea a non-starter.

[Bernie]

For the long run to the guest bathroom I put a 4 gallon electric in line to supply it. With the newer tankless I have, I removed the 4 gallon electric. There is still a wait, but not as bad.

Perhaps a smaller one under the sink for immediate gratification, but the shower would give a bit of a surprise so I opted out of supplying the whole bathroom with the buffer tank.

[Zoidberg]

Bernie wrote:
For the long run to the guest bathroom I put a 4 gallon electric in line to supply it. With the newer tankless I have, I removed the 4 gallon electric. There is still a wait, but not as bad.

Perhaps a smaller one under the sink for immediate gratification, but the shower would give a bit of a surprise so I opted out of supplying the whole bathroom with the buffer tank.

I was two steps away from doing this at the kitchen sink b'f we replaced the 12-year-old Rinnai. As Bernie said, there's still a little wait, but the water is already warm and gets hot far quicker than the old tankless. Glad I waited.

[JEBB]

Our neighborhood just got gas service so I thought it was time to add a tankless gas water heater. For me it was not a good choice. The gas line and the water heater cost a lot. The electric bill didn't seem to go down much and now we have the cost of the gas. We use more water because the distance from the water line to the bathrooms and kitchen means that we are heating a lot of water that never gets to us.