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Water heaters...

I'm not sold on tankless heaters. Seems like more of a novelty and a "gee whiz" item to put on a selling sheet than anything else. At least the "whole house" ones any way.

Smaller point of use ones in a remote bathroom or utility room seem a little more useful if you want on demand hot water and not wait for it.

If it's just for a small apartment/house, a 30 gallon would be fine. For a mid sized house you'll want 50 gallons.
 
Current system

This is the home i'm buying, i didn't get a good look as I was in a rush.. this is the existing unit.. and i'm still debating if I need one or not.. my friend just told me to get one.. i thought i check with the experts here before i do anything.. 🙂
 
I am currently building a new house and I am going the tankless route. You get up to a 20% energy savings since tankless only heats the water while it is in use. During really cold months, a tank heater will turn on multiple times a day while not being used to heat the water. I also like the fact that up to 3 showers can be used with an endless supply of hot water with a tankless.
 
Originally posted by: Slap
I am currently building a new house and I am going the tankless route. You get up to a 20% energy savings since tankless only heats the water while it is in use. During really cold months, a tank heater will turn on multiple times a day while not being used to heat the water. I also like the fact that up to 3 showers can be used with an endless supply of hot water with a tankless.
Click to expand...

How much did the whole house unit run you?
 
Originally posted by: SuperNaruto
Current system

This is the home i'm buying, i didn't get a good look as I was in a rush.. this is the existing unit.. and i'm still debating if I need one or not.. my friend just told me to get one.. i thought i check with the experts here before i do anything.. 🙂
Click to expand...


oil fired boiler?
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: Slap
I am currently building a new house and I am going the tankless route. You get up to a 20% energy savings since tankless only heats the water while it is in use. During really cold months, a tank heater will turn on multiple times a day while not being used to heat the water. I also like the fact that up to 3 showers can be used with an endless supply of hot water with a tankless.
Click to expand...

How much did the whole house unit run you?
Click to expand...
Haven't purchased it yet. Just now pouring the slab. I haven't decided yet on the manufaturer. Thinking either Rinnai or Takagi. For my house it will probably cost about $1,300. If I went the tank route I would need 2 40-50 gallon heaters. So I am basically doubling my cost. I am also wrapping the house in Tyvek, foaming the outside walls, using enrgy star Low-E windows, and dual fuel high effiecincy heat and air units.
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm not sold on tankless heaters. Seems like more of a novelty and a "gee whiz" item to put on a selling sheet than anything else. At least the "whole house" ones any way.

Smaller point of use ones in a remote bathroom or utility room seem a little more useful if you want on demand hot water and not wait for it.

If it's just for a small apartment/house, a 30 gallon would be fine. For a mid sized house you'll want 50 gallons.
Click to expand...

Our water heater broke a couple weeks ago and they replaced it with a similar 40-gallon model. I talked with the plumber about tankless and he said nobody around here installed them and that they weren't great. Basically they are at least twice as expensive and even the big ones don't have great flow (i.e. you can't run multiple showers or a shower and dishwasher and washing machine at the same time). I've also heard of issues with getting the temperature just right or else you'll scald yourself (twisting both knobs so that the temperature is absolutely perfect vs. having some fudge room). That kind of made me turned off to the idea but I'd still love to install a tankless system when I build my house. Endless hot water is really appealing 😀
 
Originally posted by: Slap
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Now just add some solar panels and you'll be all set.
Click to expand...
I did consider geothermal heat and air units.
Click to expand...

Why didn't you go with geothermal? I want to build within the next 2 years and I'm doing research 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Kaido
Originally posted by: Slap
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Now just add some solar panels and you'll be all set.
Click to expand...
I did consider geothermal heat and air units.
Click to expand...

Why didn't you go with geothermal? I want to build within the next 2 years and I'm doing research 🙂
Click to expand...

Geothermal systems usually cost double the standard system so it would probably cost another 8-10K for geothermal. I would love to put one in though. One of the pluses is it will also heat your water during the summer.

 
Geothermal systems are in the vacinity of $20k-$25k...or at least that's the going rate around IL. They take about 15 years to actual recover their added costs. (Several years less now that local electric rates have jumped up considerably, so maybe 10 years)

One major downfall is that in periods of extreme conditions they simply can not keep up with the temperatures. In the winter they can't recover heat quick enough and in the summer they can't dissipate heat fast enough. They get overwhelmed and need some small ancillary systems to pick up the slack.

 
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