Water Heaters: Tankless vs Traditional

7mmMag

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Posts
951
Likes
129
Points
228
Location
SE ND
Building a new house next spring and looking at going the tankless water heater route. Anyone have one? Likes? Dislikes? I would like to hear someone's first hand experience with them.
 


Petras

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Posts
1,672
Likes
281
Points
303
Location
Stanley
We switched to one about 6 years ago. Best thing ever. I wanna say ours is a Richmond. Easy enough to install by myself. Only complaint that we have is that if we kick on the fill spout for a tub too fast, the water temp sensor in the unit senses really cold water and goes into a fault state. Simply shut the water off, wait 5 seconds and the fault clears and then start again. It's only the tub fill spouts, nothing else does it. Easy enough to remember to just ease into it when starting that up. As for savings on gas or anything like that I can't remember. I know we save some money by not continually heating heating a hot water heater, but showers seem to have gotten a lot longer now knowing that we don't have to limit water usage so everyone can showere at night... I can literally run every faucet/shower in the house at the same time as long as I want and have a never ending supply of hot water.
 

riverview

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Posts
2,983
Likes
799
Points
398
i was looking for one this summer and was told they didn't work out and nobody had anything in stock for them.
 

eyexer

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Posts
13,730
Likes
708
Points
428
Location
williston
Gas is the only way to go and get the biggest one you can if you have a family of four or more.
 


Duckslayer100

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Posts
4,611
Likes
189
Points
293
Location
ND's Flatter Half
Totally depends on what you want to get out of it.

If it's just you and the honey with no little ones, tankless is great. It's hot water when you need it. There are capacity issues you need to think of, though. If someone wants to take a shower, boom, hot water. But if you want to take a hot shower, and do dishes using hot water, and try to fill your jacuzzi -- well, it won't keep up.

In the same vein, if you have a bigger family and it's common to have a mad dash to the bathrooms in the morning, you could be better off with a high-capacity gas water heater. I prefer power-vents. If gas isn't possible, I believe Marathon has water heaters with capacities of 85- or 100-gallons. They come with lifetime warranties, too. It'll cost more to heat, but it takes a LOT to use up that much hot water.
 

sierra1995

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Posts
615
Likes
17
Points
158
Location
Bismarck
I considered this earlier this year. We're a family of 6, and we ended up getting up a 50 gallon tank with natural gas burner, with as many BTU's as I could get (65,000, I think). Prior to that, we had a 40 gallon electric tank unit which was terrible. The recovery time is excellent with the new one. I have yet to take a cold shower since we put it in.

Mine is a power vent like Duckslayer mentioned.
 
Last edited:

pluckem

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 18, 2015
Posts
954
Likes
3
Points
171
Went down the rabbit hole of research on this topic for new build few month back. As others have mentioned it depends on intended use. If you have a smaller family with a set shower schedule then it could work out. Capacity/flow rate is what you have to look at, and DONT just do a quick glance at the specs and flow rate. There should be a chart that factors in the input water temperature. A unit that advertises 12GPM with 70F input water temperature can not do 12GPM if it has to start with 50F water temp.

Ultimately the only way it would have seemed to work out without any sacrifices is to have 2-3 units throughout the house and that is more $$ upfront, more maintenance, more install.... Went with the big gas unit.
 

Maddog

★★★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
May 6, 2017
Posts
2,567
Likes
909
Points
398
Location
One step closer to the end.
We switched to one about 6 years ago. Best thing ever. I wanna say ours is a Richmond. Easy enough to install by myself. Only complaint that we have is that if we kick on the fill spout for a tub too fast, the water temp sensor in the unit senses really cold water and goes into a fault state. Simply shut the water off, wait 5 seconds and the fault clears and then start again. It's only the tub fill spouts, nothing else does it. Easy enough to remember to just ease into it when starting that up. As for savings on gas or anything like that I can't remember. I know we save some money by not continually heating heating a hot water heater, but showers seem to have gotten a lot longer now knowing that we don't have to limit water usage so everyone can showere at night... I can literally run every faucet/shower in the house at the same time as long as I want and have a never ending supply of hot water.
[MENTION=216]Petras[/MENTION]
What size/model did you go with then?
Thanks!
 


7mmMag

Founding Member
Founding Member
Thread starter
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Posts
951
Likes
129
Points
228
Location
SE ND
Forgot to mention it would be me, my wife and we have 2 young kids right now.
 

Allen

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Posts
10,476
Likes
1,485
Points
553
Location
Lincoln, kinda...

Prairie Doggin'

★★★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2019
Posts
892
Likes
328
Points
203
I thought about putting one in...took three slots in electrical box versus one for regular water heater. No room to expand without electrician, so sent that idea away.
 

Pheasant 54

★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Posts
407
Likes
124
Points
145
I put in a new hot water heater in 2020 asked about them and the people I dealt with told me not to do it , they had them but told me I would not be happy
 

WormWiggler

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Posts
7,176
Likes
435
Points
348
I put in a new hot water heater in 2020 asked about them and the people I dealt with told me not to do it , they had them but told me I would not be happy

things like that make me cringe as wife is oblivious to being played... if the person you ask has skin in the game (mostly money, but also cred) then I am pretty leary about the advise. mileage may vary
 


Traxion

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 29, 2015
Posts
1,634
Likes
243
Points
253
Location
Western Sodak
A gas on demand, sized properly, will handle nearly any reasonable demands you place upon it. The biggest problems I see are plumbers who try to save money on new houses by putting small units in but then advertising them with on demand. The small units can't keep up. Our plumbing contractor charges $1800 above a standard gas water heater for a properly sized on demand gas unit. I would never recommend an electric, I do not know anyone who is happy with them. Keep in mind there is some maintenance that should be done. They recommend flushing 1x a year with their chemicals to keep the heating element free from deposits. Not sure on longevity yet, but I know I did some back in 2012 that are still going without any issues (yearly flushing is done on them).

As previously discussed, I would also look closely at a high capacity power vent gas unit as well. They are super efficient, pretty cheap to run, and will meet your hot water needs as well. And cost less in initial cost with probably a bit longer life. Problem is they are really, really hard to come by right now. But an 80 gal will take care of even a big family, the 100 is almost never ending hot water.
 

7mmMag

Founding Member
Founding Member
Thread starter
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Posts
951
Likes
129
Points
228
Location
SE ND
As previously discussed, I would also look closely at a high capacity power vent gas unit as well. They are super efficient, pretty cheap to run, and will meet your hot water needs as well. And cost less in initial cost with probably a bit longer life. Problem is they are really, really hard to come by right now. But an 80 gal will take care of even a big family, the 100 is almost never ending hot water.

We don't have access to natural gas but we will have propane. Any difference in efficiency between natural gas and propane powered units?
 

sl1000794

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 10, 2015
Posts
4,730
Likes
161
Points
298
One cubic foot of propane = 2,516 BTUs compared to one cubic foot of natural gas = 1,030 BTUs. Propane has more than 2 times the Btu's per cubic foot compared to natural gas. That is why a gas appliance must have it's orifices changed when converted from one gas to the other.
 


Recent Posts

Friends of NDA

Top Posters of the Month

  • This month: 167
  • This month: 137
  • This month: 121
  • This month: 110
  • This month: 105
  • This month: 88
  • This month: 84
  • This month: 79
  • This month: 76
  • This month: 76
Top Bottom