[vette6387]

Go tankless! Having a tank full of hot water taking up space is high button shoes technology. Only heat water when you need it, and nothing in your home to start leaking while you are away. The Japanese have lead the world in this technology.

[central_va]

tankless = prohibitively expense.

[Red Badger]

....and nothing in your home to start leaking while you are away...

Just the dog..............

[gunsequalfreedom]

Go tankless! Having a tank full of hot water taking up space is high button shoes technology. Only heat water when you need it, and nothing in your home to start leaking while you are away. The Japanese have lead the world in this technology.

I agree. Tankless is way better. Never run out of hot water.

[null and void]

Tankless does have advantages.

I prefer to have an additional 40 gal or so of water on site just in case something happens to the municipal water supply...

[Ouderkirk]

The trouble with tankless is for where I live, with the incoming water temp, I cannot get the heat gain, per unit volume to actually get HOT water.

[biff]

The Japs do not have west Texas water so hard you could almost walk on it. The mineral content is so high it coats the heating elements on point of use systems, the efficiency goes down and they require de-mineralizing quite often. I have several friends who bought the BS and they all say do not get one.

Now, I suppose they would work with a whole house RO installed but the cost is prohibitive for us plain working stiffs, so a natural gas old fashioned water heater is about our only choice and drain the heater once a month works about as good as it gets here.

I always say to enviros that complain we use too much bottled drinking
water and tap water is just fine to come on down and I will show you how good our tap water is. One swallow and they are reaching for Dasani bottles.

[Carriage Hill]

I have a Ruud tankless, point-of-use WH and it's been great for years. Almost instantaneous hot water, for as long as I want, at a tiny fraction of the cost of a standard WH. The upfront cost was steep, but the tax rebate was huge and electric savings payback is amazing. I had one at the Family Farm (saw it on This Old House in 1989) since I built it in 1990. Crude compared to the new units, but never a problem for 22 yrs and still going strong.

[roamer_1]

Only heat water when you need it, and nothing in your home to start leaking while you are away. The Japanese have lead the world in this technology.

Yeah, that's all fine till you are on an artesian hard water well. The capillary system would clog up so fast, I doubt it would last a year (at twice the money).

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve looked into tankless/on demand; one thing to know (and null and void alluded to it) is that, regardless of water source, the stuff that gets deposited inside the heater from the water itself will need to be removed on a pretty regular basis. A filter for the intake line might not be a bad idea, but it will still need PM.

[Smokin' Joe]

I like having a ready reserve of water. I’ll keep the tank, whether I actually turn the heat up or not.

[sheana]

We replaced our water heater about 10 yrs ago but if it ever needs replacing again we’ll go tankless.