I visited my BIL outside of London back in the 80’s. The shower had an electric demand heater mounted on the wall just below the shower head. Had a Knob to adjust temperature. It was scary to me.
I just got the final bill for my 50 gal tank-type electric heater. The original estimates were from $900 to $1000, with the possibility of a few more dollars if some retrofitting had to be done (and I was sure it would be).
The plumber who installed it charged $380 for the tank, $44 for extra parts. Including tax brought the total parts cost to $447. The labor charge was $140, so the bottom line was $587. Quite a bit cheaper than I had feared.
I like to think I got a discount because I supplied half of the strong backs needed. No ill effects so far.
Although a tankless would take up much less space, I’m not desperate for that, and the new tank is so small compared to the old that the utility room feels positively roomy.
The electrical connection hasn’t caused any problems so far. I have a few small household electrical jobs I’d like to have, so I might get the circuit to the heater upgraded if/when I have those done. I don’t think it is a serious safety issue at this time.
I heard some story when I was in New Zealand, about a couple with a tankless hot water heater, who went away for a week and came home to find the cat had stepped on the tap and turned on the hot water and it had been running all week. Of course, could happen with any taps; the worst part being, I assume, that heating on demand is more powerful, so uses a lot more energy since it heats water quickly - a faucet left running will use a lot more energy and run up a hefty bill.
(I bought a fridge once from a fellow cheap because it had cosmetic damage. He left a case of beer on top of the stove, and the cat wandering across the counter turned on a top element causing the beers to explode damaging the side of the fridge, and then setting fire to the cardboard.)
To give better answers, what size place are you talking about? Give the number of showers, sinks, and other hot-water-using devices.
They’re FAR smaller, but as mentioned above, won’t work in a closet, unless you pipe air in and out.
So far the reputation is pretty good, but old fashioned ones are simpler and have been around longer. The difference is how they fail and what happens. When tanks fail, they can leak and wreak havoc. Here in NC, a lot of older homes have hot water tanks in the attics, and every time someone has to redo a lot of drywall due to a failure, folks get reminded of the benefits of tankless. (We don’t have many basements here.)
Yes.
You want gas for a sizeable place (say, two showers going at once, or perhaps even shower plus kitchen sink). Electric can be fine for smaller installations. They’re cheaper up front but cost quite a bit more in energy costs. I have a gas one for the house, but plan to put a small electric one under the kitchen sink (in the crawl space).
I paid about $1K for the biggest unit made by one of the bigger/better manufacturers. Installing was fairly simple except that a bit of gas line work, which was costly (but found a small gas leak that had existed since the house was built!) In some cases, the gas pressure isn’t high enough and you need adjustment of the feed, but that wasn’t the case for us. (That’s a fix at the pressure regulator from the mains to your house.) Also, you need gas lines of a certain size, which some older homes may not have.
In any case, they’re considerably costlier to purchase and install than replacing a tank: about twice the cost. Furthermore, modern tanks are remarkably efficient. So, the payback time is on the order of 10 years.
That’s for a small one. But even a big one is far smaller than a tank. Still, not suitable for a closet.
Cheaper to operate, but as above, payback time is around 10 years (with a wide margin depending on use).
Tankless are great for vacation homes, because you don’t have to remember to turn the water heater off when you leave, and you get hot water immediately when you return. They’re great for people with huge hot tubs or occasional really long showers: folks who occasionally want heaps of hot water, but not often enough to justify more than a 50-gal tank.
Tankless are not good for folks who wash dishes with a sprayer (which is what I do). The sprayer doesn’t let enough water through to keep the heater running, so the water goes cold. I have to let a bit of water drain (wasted!) while I wash dishes. No doubt there are other cases where you want a small steady supply of hot water. Tankless are bad for that.
Tankless also can give you “cold water sandwich” due to drawing hot water, then reducing the flow, then turning it back up – you can get a bit of cold in there, where the demand wasn’t high enough.
Tankless take a few more seconds to deliver the hot water. However, if the tankless is installed in a better place than the tank, this is more than compensated for, since the distance matters far more than the few seconds to warm up.
Tankless are perfect for point-of-use heaters, obviously, since they can be put in a lot more places.
Here in NC, they’re often installed on an exterior wall. During cold spells, owners have to remember to crack a hot water tap to let a trickle of water flow, so they don’t freeze up. Letting them freeze up is a good way to waste a lot of money. Farther north perhaps they get installed in basements.
Once one is installed, replacing it is a breeze. A handy person who knows a tiny bit of plumbing skills can do it; and even fairly large ones are an easy 1-man carry. (For bigger houses, they gang one or more together, or distribute them according to loads. Even with ganged ones, it’d be easier than a tank, since you can handle one at a time. But if you can afford that big a house, you can probably afford a plumber!)
I bought mine from Amazon, free shipping. Plan to do the same for the one for the kitchen.