Tankless Hot water heaters

[Knalus]

Im in the middle of a renovation, and my hot water tank is on the fritz, a perfect time to replace it. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with tankless hot water heaters. Any tips or advice? How much can you save per month? Which brands are the best? Where can you find them most in expensively?

Any advice is appreciated.

[Northendzone]

Replaced our hot water heater in the spring, guy replacing it told me the tankless units are expensive (~$4k) and they are not quite there yet.

I'll be interested in reading moor about this.

[Skootenbeeten]

Replaced our hot water heater in the spring, guy replacing it told me the tankless units are expensive (~$4k) and they are not quite there yet.

I'll be interested in reading moor about this.

Did a search took about 10 seconds, not one at home depot OVER $1500. That guy was either an idiot or just a liar, I have never heard of them at that price.

I don't know how good the quality here is yet because they havn't caught on but once my tank shows signs I will be looking at them first.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Not sure if they actually save any money. The argument is that you are not burning gas to maintain the heat of water when you are not using it. If you are heating your house, any heat lost by the water heater goes in to the air in your house, and eventually settles in to the overall energy balance. Your furnace has to fire slightly less. There may be a good argument to the contrary. I'd be interested.

Aside from the up front cost, the other consideration is maintenance costs on the heat exchanger.

[JohnnyB]

Can't say much about prices on them in Canada, but they're standard here in China and they're awesome. Ever since I moved here I've found the very idea of the tank ones a little crazy in comparison.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Some info from consumer reports assessing installation, performance and payback

They ballpark savings at around 70-80 dollars a year on energy, significant up front costs on the order of several hundreds of dollars in both the heater and electrical, ventilation upgrades, plus note that heat exchanger maintenance is recommended every 1-2 years which negates the energy savings.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/heating-cooling-and-air/water-heaters/tankless-water-heaters/overview/tankless-water-heaters-ov.htm

[Rathji]

But you can take 2 hour showers.

[OldDutch]

Can't say much about prices on them in Canada, but they're standard here in China and they're awesome. Ever since I moved here I've found the very idea of the tank ones a little crazy in comparison.

I often wonder why the countries I've been too like Argentina, Uruguay, Thailand, Malaysia, etc all use this technology because it is cheaper. However, here in NA it's ultra expensive. Makes no sense, and I agree they worked just as well.