Tankless heater

I am looking into pruchasing a tankless water heater but do not want to pay more to operate it than the tank i have now. I know my tank runs on 1000 btu's and most tankless heaters run at about 10 thousand. Is it worth it to switch over?

Your install investment will be high, it will take 4 to 7 years to recoup the investment from operation. If you can afford the tankless system, it is a better option. The tankless system is less costly to run, as you are not heating up a 50 gallon tank all the time, only the water you are actually using. Tankless heaters are not "instant" heat; if it takes 15 seconds for the water from your current heater to reach your tap, it will take just as long for the new system (unless you install a circulating pump). Once the water is hot at the tap, it will be hot as long as you have gas available. The high BTU figure is used, because instead of heating 50 gallons of water all the time and having a tank full of hot water on hand, you are taking 56* street water and heating it to 120* in seconds. Think of it as a blowtorch as compared to a candle. It uses a lot of energy during operation, but when you are not calling for hot water, there is no energy expended. If your current tank needs replacement, go with the tankless unit. The salesperson will need to know your usage demands; how many showers/tubs you have, washing machine(s), dishwasher(s), etc. I've seen homes with hot water spigots near the garage so the homeowner can wash the car with warm water.

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Our ph is 7.8 -8.0 and a very high carbonate hardness. Have to replace heating elements often. Am unable to use a water softener to ease the situation. How does hard water affect the tankless heater?

Could be a scale build up inside the actual exchanger.

I have an electric titan tankless water heater its 1yr old. last night all of a sudden it quite producing hot water. no fuse appears to have blown and standby light is on but no hot water just ice cold. please help i know nothing about the new tankless heaters.

I believe those are switched on by a flow-sensor, so either the sensor or the heating element has failed. If you are experienced working around electrical devices, can access the connections, and can turn off the power to the device, you should be able to check both the flow sensing switch and the heating element with an ohmmeter or a continuity tester. The switch should close (show a very low resistance - close to zero ohms, or light the test light) when the water is turned on, and the heating element should show a fairly low resistance (few tens of ohms, or light the test light) at all times.

I have a 60 gallon natural gas water heater here in houston, TX. It is coming to the end of its natural life- apprx 10 years. The house has 3 showers, 5 sinks (including kitchen), washer and dishwasher. 2 adults live here. I want to know 1- when it comes time to replace should I use a tankless water heater? 2- what capacity tankless heater do I need? 3- when some turns on the hot water faucet and quickly switches it of, does the unit turn on? or is it smart?

Check out Takagi. 199,000BTU should work fine. They have an electric ignitor to light the pilot. Most use a circulating pump so they have hot water on demand.