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Debra Lynn Dadd
Tankless water heatersQUESTION: I've heard these waste a lot of water and are slower than conventional gas heaters in delivering hot water. What are the advantages and disadvantages of conventional vs tankless?
Thank you. POSTED BY RON :: CALIFORNIA USA :: 08/31/2009 11:01 AM
DEBRA'S ANSWER:
Here are two links you can start with.
There is already a lot of info on tankless water heaters at Q&A: Shower Filter for Tankless Water Heater, but it doesn't really compare tankless vs conventional.
Green Living Tips: Tank vs Tankless Hot Water Heating does give a comparison and some comments on the downside of tankless.
I have a conventional hot water heater myself and will continue to use it until it needs to be replaced. But the energy savings of tankless makes sense to me, so I hope everyone using a tankless system will write in and tell all of us the pros and cons. Debra :-)
COMMENTS: Hi,
I've had a tankless for the last 4 years and although it has its quirks I love it. It's just two of us in a house with one bathroom but if more than one water source is going at a time it can shut off - it is also funny about the shower, if you adjust the water too many times the hot water might shut off and you have to start again which is three minutes of no hot water. It is very cheap and overall I like it. I have a Tacoma tankless.
Kelly POSTED BY KELLY :: MICHIGAN USA :: 09/02/2009 5:55 AM
A greater bang for your buck is a recirculating hot water system. We had one installed with a high efficiency gas tank heater when we had our house built. Hot water is always just seconds away no matter how far the tap is from the heater, thus saving both water and energy. I've heard too many bad reports about tankless to go there yet.
POSTED BY JT :: CALIFORNIA USA :: 09/02/2009 6:14 AM
My in-laws have a small tankless system for their guest bathroom. We have found that when taking a shower, the water temperature is not constant, and keeps getting warmer and cooler. It may be because this is such a small system, but is something to look into. POSTED BY FRAN H. :: TEXAS USA :: 09/02/2009 6:21 AM
I lived for 3 years in Italy where we had a tankless hot water heater and we loved it. We had 3 bathrooms in our house, and all 3 could be in use with people in showers at once, and there was no shortage of hot water. The heater also heated the water for our radiators. Our house was quite large, and in the dead of winter, it had a hard time keeping all the radiators warm, but the technician who serviced it told us that our landlord should have had 2 heaters - one for each floor - which is common for large houses there.
Considering that the cost of fuel, etc. in Europe is so much more expensive than here in the U.S., these tankless heaters are much more efficient than the conventional heaters we have here in the U.S.
My house in New England has a tankless hot water heater (Monitor), but our domestic hot water is stored in a large insulated tank, and the heater just heats water as needed for either the domestic hot water or for the radiant heat/radiators. We never notice any problems with lack of hot water or problems keeping up with the need for heat.
I don't understand why anyone would say these are less efficient, as you're not working to heat water unless you need it. POSTED BY MARIE :: PM ORGANICS :: WWW.PMORGANICS.COM :: VERMONT USA :: 09/02/2009 6:36 AM
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