I have a 12 year old and a 15 year old water heater on the second floor. Time bomb ticking. Today I have guys running around replacing that situation with a tank-less system. Nearly everyone I talked to said it was the way to go. I have my fingers crossed. Don't tell me any ghost stories, but if you've had good luck with that system, let me know.

a BIG PLUS FOR GIRLS WITHOUT TANK TOPS ON.

OK Gato, read my lips, "tankless" and "topless" are two entirely different things.

I do not have a tankless system in my home. But I have spent much time abroad in places where that is the only option, often mounted right on the shower wall. They work great. If I had it to do over again I would have a tankless system installed in my house, just not inside the shower stall.

Depends on how much hot water you use. My wife & I get along just fine with a 40 gallon tank.

We've used a Bosch Aquastar on propane for 10 years now without a problem. They are very efficient only heating water when you need it rather than keeping 50 gallons hot all the time.

The only thing that was a bit of a problem at first was pressure, we are on well water and when the pump would kick on the pressure change would kick the water heater off. They require a minimum of 40psi to function properly. We could have just put an inline regulator in place but we knew our above ground well pump was getting old enough to need replacing so we replaced it with a bottom jet pump and a new regulator tank and that fixed the pressure issues.

I'll never go back to a tank system. When our kids were still at home we could run the washing machine, run the dishwasher and everyone in the house could still take a shower and no one ran out of hot water. Hard to beat that with a regular hot water tank.

A natural gas fired tankless system is very efficient (propane almost as efficient), but the electric tankless systems are not near as efficient and some can't keep up with demand.
My water heaters are about the same age age as the ones you are replacing and I will replace mine with tankless when it's time.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
OK Gato, read my lips, "tankless" and "topless" are two entirely different things.

And A BIG PLUS for the choice!

I built a solar unit here many years ago that worked just fine but was limited by the volume that the C/U tubing would hold. Likewise several years ago I installed the HVAC systems at the Georgetown Railroad car shop.They did not have an actual air holding tank for the compressed air to work their tools;they had beau coup of pipe that encircled the building to tap into so an air holding tank was not necessary.Same principle.

The hardware is in and seems to be working fine. The information off the unit is:

Navien (NPE Condensing Water Heater)
Model NPE-240A
$192 (Estimated Yearly Energy Cost)
Capacity 5.6gpm
Temperature Setting 120F

Haven't run out of hot water anywhere yet. Got my fingers crossed.

Kensco, what energy source is used to heat your on demand water heater?

Gas

http://us.navien.com/Product/P...egory=NPE-A%20series

Propane is the way to go. I have a generator in my well house to switch over during power loss.I installed a propane carb. conversion. Propane does not go bad with age like gasoline.Water is more important than anything else (almost).

Have wasted an inordinate amount of time installing, maintaining and replacing tankless hot water heaters. Hard water (even filtered with whole house system) does a number on them. I currently have a couple that I have been switching out - and am going back to a tank type system the next time I have to work on them.

Yikes! Haven't heard that story from anyone else. You're scaring me now. Just have to wait and see.

Kensco:

You don't have to worry about it, I doubt that the area you are in has hard water. However, it will kill electric water heater elements in a hurry. Generally speaking a water heater in our house, on well water, will last 5 years or less, and then it becomes history. Replacing the elements is an option, but they cost nearly as much as a new heater, and there ain't no guarantee that will work. Heater fills up with scale flaking off of elements.

thinking further, I'd be more concerned about a gas leak caused by water vibrations, filling your attic and blowing your roof off. But not to worry, you'll probably never hear the BANG.

Funny, I thought I smelled gas when I opened the doors to the now tankless water heater "closet" yesterday.

You tell me about one more ghost story and I'm going to rip that thing out and throw it out the second floor window into the back yard.

So don't put in in your attic or anywhere in the living structure. C'mon,we place our water holding tanks from the well outside the domicile,same principal,last I heard it was called piping.Lets use the noodle guys.