Tankless Water Heaters - Auburn,CA

I am in the construction industry and have several major restaurant clients who have gone to tankless hot water heaters. After our experience installing and maintaining them commercially, we put one in our house. We love it. You'll never, ever run out of hot water, even if you have multiple people taking a shower at the same time. We have not had an issue with having to wait for the water to get hot. The advice I'd give you is to hire a qualified contractor to install it - someone who has experience in installing tankless hot water heaters. It's easy to go wrong (for instance, many tankless hot water heaters require stainless steel venting, and an inexperienced contractor might decide aluminum is okay - it's not, and will void your warranty). If you're really in Auburn, you could call the Ferguson branch in Sacramento (Army Depot) and speak to Dave. He knows a lot about hot water heaters and can help you choose a good one for your needs. Trenchless Plumbing in Sacramento has tons of experience with installation, so they're one contractor you could call for an installation quote. (I'd help you out myself, but we don't do residential.)

The one thing you may need to take a look at is that all tankless hot water heaters require a certain amount of flow in order to trigger the hot water heater to turn on. If you have super low-flow shower heads, you may need to remove the restrictor in order to have enough hot water flow to cause the heater to turn on. However, with most of the models we've seen, that's not an issue. Just something to keep an eye out for. Good luck!

Can't advise you about the propane issue, but here are some pros and cons to a tankless system:

Pros
You don't run out of hot water.

The tankless system works kind of like a coffee pot. It only warms the water when you turn it on, instead of staying hot all the time. That saves you money on your gas/electric bill.

It's a nice selling feature, if you plan to sell your home, rather than having the "old timey" hot water heater.

Cons:
You have to wait for a little bit for the water to get warm - remember the coffee pot analogy above. If the bathroom is very far away from the tankless system, like WAY down the hall (I have 4 bathrooms, and the one farthest away takes longer because of the distance) then you just have to turn the water on and wait for a minute or so before getting in the shower.

If you have teenagers who could care less about wasting water or how high your water bill is, that's an issue. My son would take an HOUR to shower because the hot water never ran out. Grrr!! When he went off to college, our water bill and gas bill went way down. (And how much we went through milk... but I digress....)

I cannot remember if the water pressure was an issue in our house with the water heaters before we got the tankless system, sorry. It could be totally unrelated, but I'll mention it anyway. Only two people can shower at the same time because of the water pressure, and if we are running the jacuzzi tub, which pours a lot of water when you turn it on, the water pressure in a shower is low.

Hope this helps some!

I had a tankless water heater (with propane) in my old house - it was great. I didn't notice any issues with waiting for hot water (but I don't live in the cold northeast, so maybe that matters?). And we didn't have any water pressure problems. I think you have to make sure the size of the line leading to your tankless heater is big enough for your capacity... a 1/2" supply line isn't big enough, but a 3/4" supply line is fine.

I have no idea how much propane it used; I bought the house with the tankless so I don't know if a lot of the propane the house used was for the tankless or whether it was for heating the house.

We love ours. BUT - you need to use someone experienced with them AND someone willing to read and follow the installation instructions. Our first contractor decided they didn't need to follow the venting instructions as written and we ended up having to have the entire thing redone.

We have looked at small versions, say, just for the kitchen. But when I need hot water, I don't want to wait for it, and nothing we do requires us to use a constant stream of hot water for ages. My SIL has one, and that was our experience staying with her.
We bought a 50 gallon tank. I never run out of hot water, there are 6 of us here. Although I agree, they are more sensible for people in your climate. Here on the Great Lakes, we already have to wait for warm weather, we don't want to wait for hot water ;)

I was going to have one put in, but my electrician advised against it. I have an old house, and it's all electric, and it would have to be rewired to accommodate the amount of power a tankless heater pulls when it comes on. He said that every time it turns on, it uses as much power as if you had every stove burner, plus the oven, plus every small appliance you own running simultaneously.

I researched these quite a bit when I lived in my old house (gas). It's a great idea! Be sure you get one that is big enough for your house/useage.

However, the big "con" that caused me not to switch is that I really like having hot water even when the electricity is out. The tankless has an electric ignition for the gas flame so if the power goes out, you're out of luck. With the hot water heater, the pilot light is always on and you don't lose hot water. Also, the water tank is an excellent storage solution for emergency water.

I can say much about the functioning of the water heaters but consider the hardness of your water for calcium build up.

We were thinking about it a few years back and the plumbing companies mentioned the calcium.

the other S.

PS The only experience I had with one was in Europe and it was great except for the small size and doing dishes.

i don't have experience with the big guy, but our little kitchen one is awesome! love it so much i'd definitely consider replacing our tank with a tankless when it tanks. (sorry. not enough coffee yet, i'm still in the bad pun zone.)
:) khairete
S.