Going to replace hot water tank. Need some advice

[lzicc]

I am waiting for the gas company to connect my gas line up. When I moved into the house, it had all electric appliances since there was no gas ran to the house. I ran the main gas line from the house to the road, got it inspected and am waiting for the gas company to hook me up. It will take some time since they have to extend the main line to my house. They are saying anywhere from 60 to 90 days. It's been about 30 days so far.

I already replaced my electric furnace/heat pump with a gas furnace and central air unit. Once I have gas in the house, I am going to replace the electric hot water tank with a gas one. I've been looking at tankless vs tank water heaters. I do not have any venting for the new water heater since the electric one didn't need one, so I will go with either a direct vent tank or a tankless which can been vent out the side of the house.

Not sure of the pro's and cons. I know that tankless are more money, but since I have to buy a direct vent tank heater, the cost won't be that much more going tankless. There are 3 people that live in my house. My mom and dad may be moving in with me possibly next year. The house is about 1500 SQ FT and next year I plan on adding another 500 SQ FT on. The new furnace and ac was sized up to accommodate the addition. There are 2 full baths and 1 half bath. I also have well water, so it is colder I would think than city water, so it would take more to heat it up.

Anything to watch out for tankless water heaters? Any cons.

 

[mddorange]

Like you, when I purchased my farm, it was all electric and down here electric is much higher than natural gas. Since the house was built, natural gas was run down our county highway so to get it run to the house was easy and only took about 3 weeks. Like you, I converted things over to gas for the savings.

Having used tankless water heaters overseas I was very familiar with them. There are things that you have to plan for if doing a whole house one. It has too be big enough to handle the very most hot water that you think might ever be used at any given moment. That is, every shower in the house being used at the maximum hot water flow at the same time, plus the dishwasher, plus every sink using maximum hot water, etc.. While the chances are slim of it ever happening it is a very rude awaking when the shower goes cold because everyone wants hot water at the same time. Most tankless water heaters use flow regulators to guarantee that the water gets hot enough which can limit how many people will get enough hot water at any one time. You can always get bigger heaters but of course costs go up.

 

[RNeumann]

Both work fine. With no teenagers it would be tough to run out of hot water with a tank unit.
Having said that, we have gone tankless on the last few houses we have done. As mentioned you will need to size it for your household. The other big issue is making sure the gas line is sized for the BTUs. The typical ranked water heater is about 50,000 btu and the tankless is closer to 200,000 btu. You don't mention any of the gas line work in the house so I'm not sure how that was done. If you have the proper sized gas line water heater is fine. If not upgrading the gas line may not be worth it.

I have had the best luck with these-

Takagi Tankless Water Heaters | Endless Hot Water

Wholesalers have them or you can get them online.

 

[ustmd]

How hard is your water?

If you have very hard water (like we do), you want to go with a traditional tank water heater.

With hard water, mineral build up (even with regular flushing, anode change out, etc) will eventual kill your water heater--no matter the type. So the question then becomes what is the replacement cost? Because of mineral build up, we have to replace our water heater every 6-8 years, so I use a traditional tanked heater because of the lower replacement costs.

 

[Redlands Okie]

The tankless i have been around have a kit that you hook up to enable to flush them as needed according to the instructions. So when you buy a tankless just go ahead and get the items needed to maintain it and install them. Easy to do find or order at install time and ready to go when needed.

 

[Deere Dude]

I have had 40 gallon LP water heaters for the last 50 years and the last one replaced a 50 gallon gas heater two years ago. The only time I ran out of water heater was when I hooked my 3-4 gallon a minute pressure washer to it. It ran out in 10-15 minutes so I quit doing that. I never ran out otherwise even with teenagers and me and ma in the house.

After researching for a tankless to replace my 50 LP tank two years ago the piping change and cost and the size of exhaust and electrical hook ups and also maintenance problems from things other people claim, made me reconsider.

I just got a 40 gallon LP heater straight through the roof vent from Home Depot after reading reviews and has worked flawlessly, as I expected. I use maybe $150 of gas a year for our water heater, back up heat for our heat pump (we burn wood in our fireplace), gas fireplace in the garage, gas range in the canning area and the grill. Probably half of the gas is used by the water heater with sure isn't much or enough to warrant getting a tankless, in my view, especially since we never run out anyway.

 

[jfh28]

I've used them for over 15 years here......endless supply of hot water and paid for itself within a few years over a tanked version since it doesn't have to keep a tank of water hot all day long.....couple of things to know though.....there is a delay from when you turn on the tap to when you get hot water.....also it needs a certain flow rate to activate so turn the tap to a steady stream.......with well water you need to install a sediment filter upstream the unit otherwise the little built-in filter on the heater will clog in no time......also since your in pittsburg make sure you get the backflow kit for the exhaust pipe......otherwise on those really bitter cold times with a good wind the cold air will travel down the exhaust and freeze the coil.......the units come with a built-in heater to prevent the coils from freezing but the sensor triggering the heater is at the bottom of the unit not up on the coils so basically worthless for this scenario.....don't know if they ever corrected this design flaw in the newer units or not.......Jack

 

[rustyshakelford]

Tankless all the way. When they need replacement it's a 15 minute ordeal vs a heavy nightmare especially if in the attic. Works great and if hard water is a concern, get a water softener

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

Tankless all the way. When they need replacement it's a 15 minute ordeal vs a heavy nightmare especially if in the attic. Works great and if hard water is a concern, get a water softener

Brett

 

[lzicc]

The gas line I ran from the meter to the laundry room, which is the room that the hot water tanks is in is 1", so that won't be an issue. I do have hard water coming from the well, but it goes through a water softener. After reading these post, it seems like the tankless would be a good fit. I did get on Rheems website sizing to get an idea of what size I would need and they are suggesting getting 2 of them? That didn't make any sense, so that concerned me going down that road.