Hey Guys, well I was kicking around the idea of getting one of these units. However I wanted to see if anyone in BassResource Nation had any experiences with these units good or bad. Im aware that they do not do well in hard water conditions. So does anyone have one? Any of you guys happen to install them? Well any feedback on them would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

I've done some research, and basically the benefit is to not take up space.  But they cost a ton to run when they're working.  If you have the space, I would just look into a regular water heater.  Plus if you plan on running more than say just one sink, or one shower, now you're looking into much more expensive units.

  I could have swore that maybe 4-8months ago ( probably end up being 2 years ago ) that someone ran a thread about this. I think one or 2 guys basically said they were junk. One brand in particular had tons of quality problems and another major brand was not a lot better. ????

    The old brain is fading some but I could swear that it was on here. It also may or may not have been propane but tankless for sure. ???

   I could be wrong altogther so take my post for what it is worth which is very sketchy at best.

FFI - AKA Matt Crum

another big deterrent is that even though it runs on propane, there's still electricity involved...meaning it won't work during a power outage unless you have a generator.  Doesn't seem like a big deal until you don't have power, and can't take a shower.

When I was building my house last year I spoke to my contractor about the tankless water heaters.  Electric ones require a lot of power when in use.  One issue he ran into with a propane version was a hot water line that busted in the home.  The persons living there were gone and because of the way they apparently work, it continously supplied hot water due to the break in the line, which I believe was in the basement.  With it running like that, it caused a lot of steam and basically ruined all the sheetrock walls in the basement. 

I ended up with a traditional tank water heater.

I already looked into doing this, you're better off using a water tank. If your only planning on using it for one thing that would be fine. If you got to purchase two or three unit then it's not real cost efficient and they don't save that much more energy. If you use a tank make sure you insulate the tank and lines.

I work for a manufacturing company that supplies a water heater plant, Rheem, and they have a line of tankless water heaters.

I was talking to one of the engeneers there about those heaters and he mentioned they were so much more economic to run because you don't have to keep the water hot all day long, it takes a lot of energy to maintain the water in the tank hot. The way they do it, when you turn the Hot water on the pilots start the heating process, you get hot water in a few seconds. here is their web site:

http://www.rheem.com/products/tankless_water_heaters/

I see they also have solar water heaters, that's interesting...

From what I understand, they do not work well under low pressure applications.  It seems they need almost the max. flow of water from whatever your using to keep from overheating.(sink needs to be on full blast in order for the unit to turn on)  Not a real big deal I guess, but something to think about.

I have a tankless and love it. I will never go back to a regular hot water heater. A few have mentioned about low flow hot water. What I do is turn the water on fast and then turn it down. This way the heater sees a load and comes on. If you just turn it on slow, it won't see much of a load and won't come on. You never run out of hot water. I have filled the hot tub while my wife was taking a shower. Can't do that with a tank.

It's a tankless job but somebody's got to do it!   

I work with the Weatherization Assistance Program here in Florida and have spoken with several coordinators that I work with. The reviews seem to be mixed, with people tending to lean towards traditional water heaters.

It's hard to make a huge energy efficiency savings on water heaters- it's our lowest priority to change- so most of my subgrantees install traditional water heaters.

If you are after saving energy you can accomplish that by insulating your hot water lines and your tank type water heater.  They make fairly inexpensive(when compared to a tankless heater) blankets for water heaters.  You can also put a timer on it if your house is unoccupied all day and save some too. 

I have one at my cottage, and it works great. The one I have has a battery ignition, and I run it off a 20 lb tank. Still on the same tank 2 years. I only have gravity feed pressure and no problem at all.

I have one in my house and I'm never going back to the tank!