Tankless water heater?

[DieselDennis]

I can tell you that LOML stated that our gas bill went down $12 / month compared to previous year. That was going from a 20 year old 40 gallon nat gas unit to a tankless 9.2 GPM nat gas unit.

[Scouter]

Can you define what you mean by "tremendous" savings?  What percentage are you saving?  

If I were to replace my current 40 gal piloted hot water heater with a tankless I would need to upsize the meter and figure out how to vent the thing, assuming we are talking about a whole house unit here.  My current hot water heater draws maybe 40K BTU/hour when it's on.  A tankless that provides only 3 gpm at 70F rise is going to take around 140K BTU/hr and it's running every minute the water is flowing.  To handle that increased need of 100K BTU/hr I would need a larger meter, at my expense.  Most tankless hot water heaters are direct vent these days, you can't vent them up a chimney, and that would mean more expense.  

Like you, I pay the minimum gas company charge in the summer months - with my piloted hot water heater.  

John

Sure. While comparing one year to another is tricky (taking showers, cooking, heating, etc. isn't exactly the same):

Avg annual use before: 46.0 mcf
Avg annual use after: 40.6 mcf

Avg use in June (before, no heating): 1.8 mcf
Avg use in June (before, no heating): 1.4 mcf

Note that in my area we get charged for a minimum of 1.5 mcf/month regardless of usage.

[jteneyck]

Sure. While comparing one year to another is tricky (taking showers, cooking, heating, etc. isn't exactly the same):

Avg annual use before: 46.0 mcf
Avg annual use after: 40.6 mcf

Avg use in June (before, no heating): 1.8 mcf
Avg use in June (before, no heating): 1.4 mcf

Note that in my area we get charged for a minimum of 1.5 mcf/month regardless of usage.

Thanks.  Data is always good and reinforces my research.  At an average residential price of $11/mcf you saved $59.40 annually, and $3.30/month since you have to pay for 1.5 mcf even if you don't use it.  There may be good reasons to go tankless but it's not about saving money.  

John

[MT Woodworker]

Have a gas fired tankless, would not go back to storing and constantly heating water...

[Scouter]

Thanks.  Data is always good and reinforces my research.  At an average residential price of $11/mcf you saved $59.40 annually, and $3.30/month since you have to pay for 1.5 mcf even if you don't use it.  There may be good reasons to go tankless but it's not about saving money.  

John

A lot of that really depends. We had to replace the tank anyway, didn't do it just to go tankless. Installed it was only about $300 more, so a 5 year payback (if gas prices are stable) on a 10-yr warranty product, plus no worries about the bottom of the tank rusting out while we're away (happened to a neighbor, not a pretty sight to return to).

[jteneyck]

A lot of that really depends. We had to replace the tank anyway, didn't do it just to go tankless. Installed it was only about $300 more, so a 5 year payback (if gas prices are stable) on a 10-yr warranty product, plus no worries about the bottom of the tank rusting out while we're away (happened to a neighbor, not a pretty sight to return to).

I noticed that the price of tankless units has come way down since I last looked.  

After having an expansion tank leak while I was away from home for a week (By some miracle it stopped leaking on its own or I would have been flooded) I installed a simple electric rotary ball valve right after the meter with a switch next to my security system.  When we leave the house we flip the switch to turn off the water supply. Now if there is a leak it will be limited to the water in the piping.  

John

[fixtureman]

I thought about going tankless gas but would have had to upgrade me feed line from the road to my house 700 feet is way to much to put in cheaply.

[vernonator]

All the most recent reviews/etc on tankless stress they are NOT a money savings device when you factor in unit and install cost and amortize that over the expected life of the unit. They are all about convenience, all the hot water you want for as long as you want (as long as you size it correctly). Based on your fuel cost and usage that is almost certainly the case. Once we sell our current home (goes on market in a few days) we will be building again, and I will be going tankless for that reason - convenience and not cost savings.

[daddo]

If I had a water softener I might consider it. Otherwise there is no real savings and we don't spend hours in the shower where we ever run out of hot water and we just have a 40 gallon.

If I had 5 kids taking showers and the clothes washer always running, I guess it would pay off.?

[MarkSingleton]

Our tankless is plugged into a spare uninterruptible power supply.
It does not take much to make the spark to start the heater, in the
rare event that we get a power outage AND have to take a shower
right away before I get the generators up and running.

Oh, and yes, we have soft water.