Tankless water heaters

[Rusty]

Anyone use one? Need some reviews at in-laws request. Thanks in advance.

[timsfly]

We used those a lot when we were in New Zealand, they were very popular and could be used in areas where there was no electric. I thought they were great.

[Rusty]

Are you talking about motel rooms? They will need one that will supply two baths, and kitchen appliances. Years ago, I was working on a home that they had installed one in, and the thing couldn't meet the demand of a home. The owner, after spending $3000.00, was very disappointed.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Rusty I think a constant circulating system is more cost effective. I can't remember the official name, but the description is accurate.

[timsfly]

Hotels, I wish we camped most of the time. These were big units used in campgrounds and some of the hike into huts had smaller units, the bigger units supplied to bathrooms, of about 8 stalls each (showers) mens, womens. The same unit was used in some of the public bath houses we visited, they are big into using that sort of stuff over there, lots of natural gas stoves, heater and the such. Most campground had these units, they worked well, have no idea what they would cost, and you didn't mention how big a heater you were talking about. We always had hot water, you had to let it run about 30 seconds and then you had all the hot water you needed.

[Rusty]

I can see the benefits, especially if they work like they are supposed to. This unit will be used in the in-laws second home. They don't want to have the hot water tank running all the time, while they are not there. I can't blame them there.

[Al Agnew]

We've had one in our house for about two years now...supplies all our hot water needs. Works very well, except that it's a bit persnickety about settings, and the remote doesn't work well. Our only problems with it are that it takes a bit of time to get "warmed up"...turn on the shower and it takes about 30-45 seconds for the water to get hot. That's because it isn't set quite right, and we don't particularly trust the guy who installed it to fix the problem, so we live with it. And occasionally, like about once a month, it kicks off and has to be reset. Since the unit is down in the basement crawlspace, and like I said the remote doesn't work about half the time, it means having to go down there and reset it.

Other than that, it's very effective. We can run two shower heads at once, take a shower when the washer or dishwasher is running...absolutely NO problems with hot water supply.

[catman]

A Bosch system works very well, once you get it dialed in..

[jcoberley]

They work great if sized right. Most people don't want to pay to get the right size. As far as a 30 sec warm up. For starers you have to get all the cold water between the heater and you water valve that has been setting and gotten cold. second it takes just a few seconds for it to start heating the water Gas heaters dont just set with the burner running it takes a little while for the burner to purge and ignite before anything gets heated. The same for your house heater it wont blow hot air the moment it comes on. However they do work very nice if they are not under sized.

[whiteriverinnmoose]

Hey There

For what its worth ,I did a great deal of research before building our lodge and decided on tankless.We have a 6500 sq ft lodge with 6 full baths,4 with jacuzzi tubs and we love ours.Never any problems except for the obligatory wait on the water to get hot.Its not bad and is only slightly longer than a standard tanked heater with no recirculation pump.The US is one of the few countriesI know of that doesnt use tankless almost exclusively.But then again we are the land of plenty so we waste more energy than a lot of small countries use.Its a tremendous savings for us as we would normally be heating with 4 or 5 heaters.If they decide to go this way have them put the remote in the living area of the home.I have had to reset mine only twice in two years,oncr because I ran out of propane.The brand we used is Noritz,a very fine company with a great help line as my plumber had never insalled one before but they made it easy for him.

Moose

http://thewhiteriverinn.com