Need help deciding tankless or tank water heater
 

I’m a newbie here and I’m thinking of getting a tankless water heater, what should I look for and what should I look out for?

If it's electric you'll probably need an upgrade of your present electrical supply.

My old tank is gas but I'm open. Which do you think would be better?

The standby heat for an elec. tank heater at 15 cents/kwh may cost you $65/year. I assume 50w for 8700 hours.

How much you pay for NG, per CCF?
I pay $1.60 per CCF = $1.60 per therm and so my standby for NG would be $23/year.
A therm = 100,000 BTU = 29.3 kwh.

Here's some prices -
http://www.nextag.com/heater-tankless-gas/products-html
http://www.nextag.com/heater-tankless-electric/compare-html

Figure on 100 gals per person per day and a bathtub may fill at 6 GPM.

Thanks wazzat & nealtw!

When I lived in Indonesia for a year there was one in the house where I stayed. That was 20 years ago and I didn't pay much attention to what it was but I remember it well. I never ran out of hot water. Ran out of water once in a while when they didn't fill the water tank though. It never failed but was kind of ugly inside the western style bathroom.

I've talked to a couple plumbers and they aren't very pro-tankless. Have either of you used one? I'd sure like to hear some firsthand experiences.

Thanks guys!

Paul

I havn't seen enough of them to have a good opinion. :)