A gas tankless water heater merits consideration. They can provide limitless hot water when properly sized. There is the benefit of only using gas when there is a call for hot water and not burning gas 24-7 to keep tanked water hot. Add in the space that is gained by removing the tank. Rinnai makes some excellent units. I have a tankless electric and love it. It was a bit of a witch to set up because it required 6/3 wire from the main panel to a subpanel along with a 100 amp breaker. Your current setup can be easily switched over to tankless with out the hassle that I went through.
Julie has put in about 70 AO Smith on-demand gas water heaters. they are lasting 2-4 years depending on location. Some have only lasted 1 year and Smith was supposed to warranty 5, but somehow the rep didn't see it through. Of course, these are all in the restaurants and are VERY high usage. Personally, I love our electric tankless at home. (EcoSmart 27) its been in about 12 years with no problems after the first couple months.
Well, that lines up with what I've heard from other reputable plumbers...they generally don't recommend them to people they like... especially in areas with hard water. One of the bosses had a small electric on demand heater put in at work... we'll see how that does...but it'll see very little use, so it may be fine.
My plumber agrees with TurboDiesel and brenndatomu hard to save $ with efficiency if need constant replacement or repair especially with wells read harder water normally
My propane combi boiler, which has on demand hot water is an HTP. It is advertised (at least in early 2023, when it was put in), as a "lifetime" warranty. If you register it within 30 days, it has a 15 year (limited) warranty. Otherwise it is 5 years. I found that isn't unusual that "lifetime" pretty much describes what they have determined it means, not the customer's lifetime. You really have to read the documentation to see that you need to register it for the longer warranty. Fortunately, I was looking for how to register it when I found that little gem, so was able to take advantage.
My EcoSmart 27 electric tankless is 13 years old and performs like new. Of course, I just forked myself and it will probably break down today ;-) Installation was a witch because due to a code issue, I had to run 6/3 wire from the main panel and install a subpanel in the laundry room. Prior to the electric tankless I had a 50-gallon electric tank. My electric bill dropped by $50.00 per month after installing the tankless.
I'd bet you can't...they change model #'s every 6 months on appliances now. They find ways to cheapen them up, bit by bit...drip, drip, drip. (no pun originally intended there ) It might be the same series, but if you compare the model number, they change 'em up...heck, on some stuff its hard to get the exact same model # from 2 different vendors even!
my water heater on lp and well is from 1991- still going, don't remember name - dosen't matter as everything now is made to last just over warranty. Repair parts are insanely priced+ instalation if not done yourself generally adds up as much as new or pretty dang close. I was recently quoted 2 grand for a 50ft run of 8ga,200v single phase line. Nutz.
If you’re considering electric a Marathon water heater is a unit we’ve had good luck with. They are a bit pricey but they last. The one in our milk house lasted 22 year's if I remember correctly. We also have one in our house & my wife’s parents house. Just something to consider.
Yep. It's just a water heater. It's a funny thing that many people just say. Water heaters vary crazy amounts of service life depending on the water that's being supplied. I used to work for my dad's plumbing and boiler company about 90 miles from where I live. That city where the business was had such hard water, city it country, that the nutrients in the water would build up in very short time. Water heaters they're would last a couple years at most. Electric or gas didn't matter. 5 years was about max. Not sure about on demand heaters because they were just coming out when he got out of that biz.
We are on our second Rheem Marathon Electric water heater bought and installed by our Electric Coop LMRE. The first one lasted 20+ years and our Co-Op honored the lifetime warranty and installed a new 80 gallon tank for free. Labor and the new unit, plus took the old one away for a zero dollar invoice
I have a 40 gal SuperStor tank on a separate zone on the Buderus boiler with Tekmar control. It works well but they all die after a while so I just picked up an ECO Smart On Demand electric DHW panel from Home Depot for backup. By adding a cross over pipe and a ball valve I can switch in what ever DHW heater I want. Since I have a pellet stove running nearby to heat the house, when I switch to the electric on demand, I can still switch in the 40 gallon tank which gets heated by the pellet stove to 80 degrees by Osmosis, then the EcoSmart heats that from 80 to 140 degrees for greater efficiency. Pic 1 - ECO Smart on demand Pic 2 - Buderus Bouler Pic 3 - 40 Gallon SuperStor
Zwave control of water recirculation pump : r/homeautomation Get a ZWave (preferred over Chinese Wi-Fi receptacles) outlet, and a motion sensor. Person walks into the room; the motion sensor has an automation that turns on the ZWave outlet the pump is plugged into. The outlet turns on and runs the pump for X minutes / seconds. Have something very similar for the light in my daughter's bathroom. She walks in, the light turns on via motion sensor automation. She walks out, a minute later the light turns off. Probably spent more $$$ on the outlet, and the sensor than what I would have spent on electricity, but I hate lights on in an unoccupied room (pet peeve).
Depending on utility prices in your area, several studies indicate if you use more than 40 gallons of water a day you may be better off with the good old water tank than on-demand. And the converse is true - if you use less than 40 gallons a day you'll likely spend less in the long run with an on-demand system. Don't forget: if you live in an area where deposits build up in a tank, they'll also build up in your on-demand often requiring yearly maintenance. Labor rates are not going down.
