Hot Water Heater

[Horn_Spanker 524]

Does anyone have a tankless water heater?  If so, your thoughts?

[RowdyVic 106]

I do not but from I have heard..if you have hard water, you will definitely need a water softener.

Edited October 1, 2018 by RowdyVic

[EE2B 1565]

We have a gas tankless that is outside. It was added during a remodel of the house and the previous owners just had the water supply piped back out to the exterior of the house from the two existing tank water heaters. They then brought the output side of the tankless back to the original output of the tank heaters. Needless to say it takes a while to get hot water is certain locations in our house. They do shutoff on low flow/pressure so you have to have somewhere for the small control panel to go if it’s going to be outside.

[kevwun 15811]

The exhaust pipe you need is a larger diameter than what most people who have conventional water heaters have in place, so you may have to plan on having it replaced.

Edited October 1, 2018 by kevwun

[Native Horn 3505]

Based upon thread title, just how much hotter are you wanting your hot water?

#obligatory

[deadshank 24653]

Just now, Native Horn said:

Based upon thread title, just how much hotter are you wanting your hot water?

#obligatory

All the way to steam

[Spur08 382]

I only know how to work on cold water heaters

[thunderlounge 7893]

Had a tankless in old house. Will be putting one in this house at some point, unless plans change to move in the next 5 years. Possible, but unlikely at this point. 

Drfinitely need a softener before the tankless, if not also a filter. The cleaner you can keep them, the better. It does take a tick longer for hot water to come from the tap, but it is well worth it. Oversize it a bit and you won’t have an issue when the washer, dish washer, and 3 showers are running. 

 

[horn4life 3775]

I thought about tankless at my house in NW austin, but retrofitting the exhaust was gonna be a pain.  I do however regret not pulling another dedicated electrical line to the kitchen when I had the walls open for a smaller "step up" under sink tankless version.  It takes a about two minutes for the line to get really hot water to the kitchen because of the length of the run.  A smaller unitl to provide instant hot water to dishwasher and sink would have been a plus that would have been super easy to do during the remodel.

[ROFL BOX 6649]

@deadshank can probably attest to this; I have yet to see an aftermarket tankless installation (related to what @kevwun said) where the plumber didn't totally fuck up the roof.

[deadshank 24653]

9 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

@deadshank can probably attest to this; I have yet to see an aftermarket tankless installation (related to what @kevwun said) where the plumber didn't totally fuck up the roof.

Correcto.  Retrofit or new construction.  Mechanical contractors love to screw up roofs.

[Bat Guano 359]

I've also heard that if you get a gas tankless it will require a 1" diameter gas line, and most gas tanked water heaters don't use that large a line, so you have to get a bigger one (that's what she said). Can anyone confirm this? My gas valve is on the other side of the house from the water heater, so it would be a pain in the ass to run a line all that way under the house if I decided to do that.

[phdhorn 6224]

I've thought about it a few times, my take is it's great for colder climates, but down here not worth the retrofitting/equipment (softener?) and expense.

[RPM 26328]

Why would you want a stolen water heater?