New house build: tank water heater vs. tankless water heater

[CarolinaCy]

Hey fellow Fanatics, we just signed the paperwork to build a new house that will be ready sometime this coming summer, and one of the things that my wife and I have been wrestling with is: do we go with the 50gal gas-fired standard tank water heater that the builder will supply, should we upgrade to a larger 75gal (~ $2600 upcharge), or upgrade to tankless water heater (~ $3000 upcharge)? Another option we would have is to add a hot-water recirculation line throughout the house for something like $1500, so we'd have instant hot water at all taps.

We have a family of 6, and the 4 kids are all teen/pre-teen girls, so showers take like 7 hours.... only a slight exaggeration there. What is everyone's experience with tank vs. tankless, and also a recirc line? My concern is that the tankless can't keep up with that kind of hot water demand, but the upcharge on the 75gal tank seems pretty high.

Would love to hear thoughts and feedback. Thanks!

 

[Gunnerclone]

I’d go with the tankless in your situation. I’ve had both, and I can see that tankless would be a good option for your predicament. The instant hot water thing would be nice as well. Now is the time to go all out imo.

 

[RLD4ISU]

We built a house last year - "system" home so our upgrade options were severely limited.

This is definitely the time to go all out if you're able to. I don't have experience/knowledge with the tank vs tankless, nor recirc line. But recirc line sounds like a great upgrade!

If you sit down and pencil out what it would cost you to do the upgrades later, you might find it's worth it to do now.

 

[Marcelason78]

Hey fellow Fanatics, we just signed the paperwork to build a new house that will be ready sometime this coming summer, and one of the things that my wife and I have been wrestling with is: do we go with the 50gal gas-fired standard tank water heater that the builder will supply, should we upgrade to a larger 75gal (~ $2600 upcharge), or upgrade to tankless water heater (~ $3000 upcharge)? Another option we would have is to add a hot-water recirculation line throughout the house for something like $1500, so we'd have instant hot water at all taps.

We have a family of 6, and the 4 kids are all teen/pre-teen girls, so showers take like 7 hours.... only a slight exaggeration there. What is everyone's experience with tank vs. tankless, and also a recirc line? My concern is that the tankless can't keep up with that kind of hot water demand, but the upcharge on the 75gal tank seems pretty high.

Would love to hear thoughts and feedback. Thanks!

$2600 upcharge for a 75 gallon is really steep.

 

[NorthCyd]

Just built a new house 2 years ago. I have 4 daughters. We went tankless because our old hot water heater couldn't keep up in the old house. Never had a problem with the tankless keeping up yet. Showers don't really have that much flow. The only thing that really stresses the system is filling a bathtub, but baths are rarely taken in our house.

 

[1100011CS]

Hey fellow Fanatics, we just signed the paperwork to build a new house that will be ready sometime this coming summer, and one of the things that my wife and I have been wrestling with is: do we go with the 50gal gas-fired standard tank water heater that the builder will supply, should we upgrade to a larger 75gal (~ $2600 upcharge), or upgrade to tankless water heater (~ $3000 upcharge)? Another option we would have is to add a hot-water recirculation line throughout the house for something like $1500, so we'd have instant hot water at all taps.

We have a family of 6, and the 4 kids are all teen/pre-teen girls, so showers take like 7 hours.... only a slight exaggeration there. What is everyone's experience with tank vs. tankless, and also a recirc line? My concern is that the tankless can't keep up with that kind of hot water demand, but the upcharge on the 75gal tank seems pretty high.

Would love to hear thoughts and feedback. Thanks!

If you have a 2-story or your water heater is a long way from the furthest tap I'd invest in the recirculation. We didn't and I'm regretting it. Takes forever to get hot water in our kitchen and a couple sinks.

 

[TXCyclones]

100% go tankless! BUT... I have one cautionary tale. Be sure that it's rated for your climate. I've had tankless on my last two homes (both new construction). The amazing thing w/ tankless is the gas bill is so low by comparison to traditional water heaters. And the constant hot water is awesome.

A couple years back Texas had the deep freeze and subsequent mass power outage. Being from the Midwest I knew to drip the water to keep the pipes from bursting. The mistake I made was I dripped the water only on the cold side. Because my tankless heater was mounted to an exterior wall the internal components were exposed to the freezing temps w/ no backup heating source. One of the control valves froze and cracked and leaked INTO the house. I walked into a dark bedroom and... squish... it had dripped dripped dripped through the wall and soaked the carpet adjacent to that exterior wall.

Both of my last homes had two tankless heaters - one for each half of the house.

I recently moved into Dallas and into a home built in the 60s. The house has a brand new traditional gas water heater with recirculating pump. I miss my tankless desperately. And because of the recirculating pump the water heater basically runs all the time (until the timer shuts it off), so my gas bill is ridiculous again. I'm getting ready to do some remodeling so plan to change to tankless during the construction.

 

[Clonehomer]

We got a new 50 gal last year and haven’t had issues keeping up with the 5 of us. The kids spend so much time in the bathroom after the shower that it heats back up just fine even if they empty it. But my wife and I also get up earlier than the kids, so the showers are spaced out a bit and we rarely have all 3 showers running at the same time.

The recirculating thing seems like the bigger deal and I’m guessing that’s harder to do in the future. But if you do go with the tank, at least see if they can put the larger gas line and exhaust system to allow for an easier transition to tankless in the future if you think you need it.

 

[AllInForISU]

Tankless requires quite a bit more maintenance to make sure it lasts what the manufacturer says it will. Descaling it every 6 months is best, but at minimum every year.

Those up charge prices all seem high. You are getting gouged like crazy on a 50 to 75 gallon up charge cost difference between those 2 is maybe $1000 and there isn’t any additional piping that has to be done. if you upgraded to 75 gallon AND recirc, that should be only a $2000ish total up charge IMO.

Push back on this a little bit. You are getting screwed.

 

[NebrClone]

Hey fellow Fanatics, we just signed the paperwork to build a new house that will be ready sometime this coming summer, and one of the things that my wife and I have been wrestling with is: do we go with the 50gal gas-fired standard tank water heater that the builder will supply, should we upgrade to a larger 75gal (~ $2600 upcharge), or upgrade to tankless water heater (~ $3000 upcharge)? Another option we would have is to add a hot-water recirculation line throughout the house for something like $1500, so we'd have instant hot water at all taps.

We have a family of 6, and the 4 kids are all teen/pre-teen girls, so showers take like 7 hours.... only a slight exaggeration there. What is everyone's experience with tank vs. tankless, and also a recirc line? My concern is that the tankless can't keep up with that kind of hot water demand, but the upcharge on the 75gal tank seems pretty high.

Would love to hear thoughts and feedback. Thanks!

I love my tankless, unlimited hot water all the time even when the kids come home. We save about 100 to 150 gallons of propane a year. For that size family it might take 2 hooked up in tandem.

 

[herbicide]

Tank.

1. Tankless need a minimum flow to turn on, so they generally don’t work well for things like washing your hands, where you just want a little warm water.

2. Maintenance: descale descale descale. If you have a water softener not as big of a deal, but tankless require much more maintenance than a traditional tank type.

3. Cost. The energy payback is so long, you’ll need to replace it before it achieves it.


Maybe this has changed in the last 4-5 years when I did my research on a replacement. After talking with experienced folk and some actual plumbers (not the sales department…) I went with a traditional (high efficiency) tank style.

 

[AllInForISU]

Tank.

1. Tankless need a minimum flow to turn on, so they generally don’t work well for things like washing your hands, where you just want a little warm water.

2. Maintenance: descale descale descale. If you have a water softener not as big of a deal, but tankless require much more maintenance than a traditional tank type.

3. Cost. The energy payback is so long, you’ll need to replace it before it achieves it.


Maybe this has changed in the last 4-5 years when I did my research on a replacement. After talking with experienced folk and some actual plumbers, I went with a traditional (high efficiency) tank style.

Tankless is great if space is limited. If that’s not an issue, tank is the way to go.

 

[CarolinaCy]

Tankless requires quite a bit more maintenance to make sure it lasts what the manufacturer says it will. Descaling it every 6 months is best, but at minimum every year.

Those up charge prices all seem high. You are getting gouged like crazy on a 50 to 75 gallon up charge cost difference between those 2 is maybe $1000 and there isn’t any additional piping that has to be done. if you upgraded to 75 gallon AND recirc, that should be only a $2000ish total up charge IMO.

Push back on this a little bit. You are getting screwed.

That's what I was thinking on the cost of the 75gal. The plumbing is the same, and I can definitely find 75 to 80gal units less than that at full retail price, so I find it hard to believe the difference in cost of a 50 and a 75 is $2600.

 

[NorthCyd]

Tank.

1. Tankless need a minimum flow to turn on, so they generally don’t work well for things like washing your hands, where you just want a little warm water.

2. Maintenance: descale descale descale. If you have a water softener not as big of a deal, but tankless require much more maintenance than a traditional tank type.

3. Cost. The energy payback is so long, you’ll need to replace it before it achieves it.


Maybe this has changed in the last 4-5 years when I did my research on a replacement. After talking with experienced folk and some actual plumbers, I went with a traditional (high efficiency) tank style.

Never had a problem with 1. Always kicks on with any faucet we turn on. Maybe if you just turn it on a trickle that's an issue.

Maintenance is not that big of a deal IMO. I do the flush myself. Takes about 1 hour, although it only takes about 10 minutes of actual work and then just let the pump do its thing. Kit costs about $150, so there is that. Recommended you flush once a year.

I'm not necessarily against tanks, but until my kids move out and have their own places I wouldn't want to go back to a tank, at least not a 50.

 

[mywayorcyway]

We had a tankless in a 5 bedroom house a few years ago. It was great. Water was super hot, pressure was great and multiple faucets could run at the same time without issue. It was a high end model though, I think $5500 and that was 10 years ago.

We did have a leak but it was repaired under warranty and that was 6 or 7 years after install.

 

[Clonehomer]

That's what I was thinking on the cost of the 75gal. The plumbing is the same, and I can definitely find 75 to 80gal units less than that at full retail price, so I find it hard to believe the difference in cost of a 50 and a 75 is $2600.

Unless the 75 gal requires more btu’s and thus a larger gas line? Or the 50 gal doesn’t require the powered exhaust and the 75 does?

 

[JP4CY]

Kind of an off shoot of this thread. Run hot and cold water to your garage. Might cost a couple hundred bucks but its awesome to have a spigot in the garage.

 

[nfrine]

Gas tankless - OK
Electric tankless - Nope

 

[Dandy]

I saw a Tik Tok on this exact thing. It was many-year veteran plumber that was asked. I don't recall the exact answer but his answer was dependent on your energy source. If you have gas energy go one way and if you have electric energy go the other.

 

[Pitt_Clone]

One thing to maybe consider is that fact that with tankless, when the power goes out you have no hot water (i think this is the case?). That's not the case with a tank. It might not happen often so it might be worth the risk, but I think it's something to keep in mind.

I had someone try to sell me on powered venting of my tank so we didn't have to run the exhaust pipe all the way up to the roof, but I didn't go with it for that reason.

Edit: probably should specify I'm referring to tank powered by gas.