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

[cyputz]

Thank you for the background to all the tankless vs standard!
We live in NC, and purchased (2019)a home which was built in 2005ish. They actually placed standard water heaters in the frickin attic, since it is a detached garage. It was a new water heater, so we thought we could replace in a few years. We will replace this year, and it will be tankless. We are in NC seven months a year, summer in MN the remaining five.
Anxious to compare brands - will look into Essency.

 

[JP4CY]

Thank you for the background to all the tankless vs standard!
We live in NC, and purchased (2019)a home which was built in 2005ish. They actually placed standard water heaters in the frickin attic, since it is a detached garage. It was a new water heater, so we thought we could replace in a few years. We will replace this year, and it will be tankless. We are in NC seven months a year, summer in MN the remaining five.
Anxious to compare brands - will look into Essency.

No basement?

 

[JEFF420]

No basement?

too clayey i'd assume

 

[flycy]

Honestly don't get the savings claims of tankless. 4 kids, an 80 gallon tank and the gas portion of our gas bill in the summer when only the water heater is using it is like $12/month. To me the price difference isn't worth it.

 

[cyputz]

No basement?

No sir. Not many basements here.

 

[CarolinaCy]

After reading through this thread, I get the impression that several people don't really understand the concept of a tankless heater and how they actually work.

Feel free to enlighten all of us then

 

[Helser 83]

Yeah, I won't do that, but thanks for asking.

 

[CtownCyclone]

No basement?

In the South, all plumbing is above your living space!

At least in our current house, the water heater is in the garage, plus we have PEX for our plumbing. Handy to have the manifold to shut off each individual line. In theory, I'll replace the heater with a heat pump heater to get "A/C" in the garage.

 

[CarolinaCy]

Yeah, I won't do that, but thanks for asking.

Thanks, you've been super helpful

 

[cyputz]

Thinking about tankless water heater with a recirculating feature.
Is there an adverse impact if we are not in NC for 5 months of the year.
We go to Minnesota, and actually a plumber would not install a tankless water heater there because of all the iron in the water. Will revisit this summer and determine if the system we put in place would now allow it.

 

[AllInForISU]

Yeah, I won't do that, but thanks for asking.

What exactly was the point of you hopping in this thread?

 

[AllInForISU]

I didn’t even know electric tankless was an option. That seems crazy.

Basically needs its own service/meter. It draws a ton of amps if you are doing the whole house on it. Small electric “on demand” units can be useful in places.

 

[2forISU]

Tankless are expensive, short life span and need maintenance. Electric water heaters last much longer and very rarely ever give you an issue.

 

[AllInForISU]

Thinking about tankless water heater with a recirculating feature.
Is there an adverse impact if we are not in NC for 5 months of the year.
We go to Minnesota, and actually a plumber would not install a tankless water heater there because of all the iron in the water. Will revisit this summer and determine if the system we put in place would now allow it.

Some tankless water heaters come with recirculating pumps built in

 

[AllInForISU]

Tankless are expensive, short life span and need maintenance. Electric water heaters last much longer and very rarely ever give you an issue.

Short life span only if you don’t maintain it. Otherwise, should last longer than a traditional tank and you should still drain those regularly to get the sediment out of the bottom of the tank.

 

[2forISU]

Short life span only if you don’t maintain it. Otherwise, should last longer than a traditional tank and you should still drain those regularly to get the sediment out of the bottom of the tank.

As someone that deals with properties on daily basis, I would stack an electric hot water tank up against anything else. They just keep on running with no maintenance.

 

[JBone84]

Tankless, without a doubt.

A typical natural gas tank water heater should cost you something like $800-1,200 depending on what you buy. Tankless should run you like $1,500-2,000 and the labor is not significantly different between either option, should be a wash.

My natural gas provider has a $300 rebate on tankless water heaters, so check into that. Make sure you get the rebate, and that the contractor is not charging you extra AND not getting you the rebate (a good contractor will fill out the form for you and hand it over to be signed and submitted).

 

[NorthCyd]

What exactly was the point of you hopping in this thread?

Yeah hopping in to tell everyone they don't know what they are talking about and then doing nothing to back it up is a weird flex.