I was meeting with a prospective customer and they asked me what I think of replacing their Tank water heater with a new Tankless water heater.
After finding out how many bathrooms and fixtures in the house and the problems they were experiencing with lack of hot water under certain circumstances, I did a little research and then had a talk with my plumber.
Here are some of the Pros of a Tankless water heater
. Tankless water heaters are more energy efficient.
. They cost less to operate. (potential energy cost savings of $70-$80 a year)
. They take up less space.
. They have a longer life span then conventional tank water heaters.
And here are some of the Cons
. The initial cost of a tankless water heater is more than a tank water heater
. The cost of a tankless is about $1000 – $1300 plus installation. A tank water heater is about $500 – $700 plus installation.
. They have a limited output, it doesn’t store water it heats it and sends the hot water to the fixture. If you have a lot of different fixtures running hot water at one time it reduces the amount of hot water available at each fixture.
. They have a high instantaneous Energy Requirement.
You may need to add a larger natural gas line to supply the unit with enough fuel.
Dave Silva/GC
