Tankless Water Heater Question

I am thinking about a tankless water heater, too. Thanks for bringing this topic up for discussion.
K.

Hi,
My husband is a plumbing contractor and we own our own plumbing company. I did a presentation to my networking group on tankless water heaters.
They are wonderful, but there is no such thing as "instant" heated water. The water still has to make the trip from your basement to the faucet it needs to come out of. In the winter time, it takes more energy to heat the super-cold water.
There are three things that would cause people to complain about them:
Improper installation
Improper sizing
Unrealistic expectations
It doesn't only depend on the size of your family what size tankless you need. It depends on the size of your home...how many bathrooms and utilities connected to it and how far the water will have to travel. If your home is larger, we may also recommend a "return line" be installed to keep the hot water circulating so it gets to you faster. I'd have my husband explain.
Also, a tankless must be vented to the outside and can not be connected to the venting from your old heater. It must be stainless steel venting.
Although different than the ones used in Europe, tankless water heaters have been around a very long time and they've come a long way.
You are welcome to call and talk to my husband directly, and he can give you a free estimate to install one.
Our company name is:
MasterCraft Plumbing
###-###-####
My husband's name is Ryan and mine is E. (pronounced Eeva). I'll be the one to answer the phone.
You can view our positive review on the Local Business Reviews page.
Good luck.

We have one. We built a new house in 2000. We chose to have one installed 3 years ago when our other water heater was giving us problems. It did cost about $700 to have it installed, we paid about $1000 for the water heater itself. The first year everything was good and we had no complaints or problems. Then we started noticing it taking longer to get hot water, it was instant. Then I was filling my jacuzzi tub and it was full of cold water. So I called the place we purchased it, since it was still under warranty. They really couldn't answer my questions and just said that I had to have the water pressure (handle) on only half way, it could not keep up with filling up such a large tub. We are a family of 4, well we were a family of 3 until this year. So it's not like we are over using it. To date, we still have problems and I would not recommend them to anyone. I have no problems just doing dishes (but can take several minutes for hot water in the winter)But when I use it for 15 minutes straight it causes issues and the vent that goes outside was so full of black gunk that it even got on the side of my house .... I personally would not recommend this type of water heater and now that we have one we asked a plumber and he said that one of them should have never been recommended to us .... too many issues and too new of a product. No one has answers on how to fix them when there are issue after issue ....

I just read the response below and I laughed ... we can not Shower or take a bath while running the dryer ... something about the water heater sucking in lint or dust from the dryer ......... lol ....... hmmmmmm

We put a Paloma in our last house and loved it. I mention the brand because the plumber who installed it for us did say there were differences in quality between the different brands and Paloma was one of the best (he's an independent contractor with no company affiliations, and we purchased the unit off of eBay). We had no problems taking showers, doing laundry and running the dishwasher all at the same time. However, it was a very small house all on one level. We had it for about a year-and-a-half before moving and had no complaints.

We plan to install one in our current home in the near future and can't wait for limitless hot water AND lower gas bills!

I am originally from England and lots of homes have them over there, where they've been available since the 1980's. They are much more energy efficient than regular tanks. I didn't even know they were available here and will definitely look in to getting one!

We installed one earlier this year. It cost more to purchase, but our gas bill has shown the difference. It takes up a lot less space in the basemenet. It is really nice to always have hot water, even if my husband takes a really long shower, we are doing laundry and dishes. Still have hot water! It does take a few minutes for it to get hot, so you have to let the water run for a while. My husband is a contractor and probably could have installed himself, but we chose to have our plumber install. Safer bet.
We are happy with it.

Hi J., My husband & I just had this conversation as well. Thank you for putting it out there to the other Moms. We researched tankless water heaters about 5 years ago & did not purchase it at that time. Fast forward 5 years & now my husband works at ABT on Milwaukee Ave in Glenview & they sell them! He has attended some training and has some literature. He said they have come a long way in the last 5 years. It seems most of the issues have been worked out. I remember one of the biggest issues is that our water source (Lake Michigan) gets so super cold through the winter months that the heater basically couldn't get it hot enough... I have heard that has changed. We are considering one. Also I believe he said that all "new construction" is going with the tankless now as well. In some of the larger homes 2 units are being installed. Please let me know if you chose to buy one and if not why? Thanks so much for posting the question.
C.

They are good if you don't have a large family who showers,washes dishes,clothes at the same time. My husband and I own a few houses in Ecuador where they only use tankless water heaters. At my mother in law's house, she always would decide to wash the dishes while I was in the shower... WHOA COLD BLAST! The hot water always went to the tap closest to the unit. Our newest house will hopefully have 2 units, one for upstairs and the other for downstairs. I don't have the experience with them here in the States, but this is a good question to ask.

J. L. You can call any Plumbing Supply companies William M Myer and Banner Supply. They are very helpful with any questions you might have. My husband is a Plumber & does not install very many of them at this time. They are still very new to the industry & not sure how long they hold up. Traditional water tanks 50 gallon is your best bet. Also, warranty information that comes along with the unit.

Vicki, can you (or your husband) elaborate? Are they hard to install? Do they break down quickly? Do they not heat as promised?

My sister and a friend both have tankless water heaters and they really like them. We have the old fashioned kind - but it is running on borrowed time.

I researched both types a couple of years ago, and we went with a larger tank heater and are very pleased with it. Our plummer said not only do the tankless restrict the timing of your shower & dishwasher, but they also require regular maintenance (which is not cheap!). The regular maintenance issue is what determined our purchase. Good luck!

My parents have a tankless water heater and love it but they cannot shower while running the dishwasher or washing machine. That's their only complaint.

I put my tankless water heater in one year ago. I saved 3000 gallons on my first water bill. I used Imperial Tankless out of Mudelein. They warrenty their system for 10 years parts & labor. They are the only company around to do that. It takes the same ampunt of time to get hot water to actually faucet as regular heater but once it's there it stays same temperature all the time. You also but different size systems according to how many bathrooms in house and how many things you want to do at one time. You can get one so that everyone can shower plus run washing machine and dishwasher if you want. They also have a system you can attach to any water supply to have instant hot water the minute you turn faucet on if you dont want to wait the minute it takes to heat up. You can call Imperial and talk to Rory, tell him told you to call and you'll get a special deal.

Hi J.,
I don't have any experience with these in the states, but they are the standard in Europe, where I lived for a few years. They are awesome and I much prefer them to the regular water tanks. just hope that they are just as powerful here as they are over there! good luck.

My husband is a plumber and says they are terrible.