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Tankless water heaters?

Smawgunner2

Smawgunner2

Active Member
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Athens County
Our new house had a kitchen and full bath upstairs. We ripped out the kitchen. It was part of a new addition to the home and a dedicated 40 gallon electric hot water tank was installed. Our electric bill since we don’t have gas was 450 bucks last month. Plus the tank is 16 years old. Would replacing with a tankless save money in the long run? I’ve heard horror stories about tankless….temp fluctuations, not hot enough, maintenance etc. Any have experience with these?
 
I own two Rinnai R53 tankless water heaters… one in the house, one in my shop. Both have been in service since 2006. Knock on wood… I’ve not had a lick of trouble with them. Honestly, I think they’re great. Mine do run on propane though, not electric.
 
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We install them all the time. As long as you do you maintenance you should not have an issue. Just replacing the existing tank would help some on the power bill. To get 16 years out of a tank is impressive. Usually the bottoms rust around 10-12
 
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Sauger said:
We install them all the time. As long as you do you maintenance you should not have an issue. Just replacing the existing tank would help some on the power bill. To get 16 years out of a tank is impressive. Usually the bottoms rust around 10-12
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Care to expand on the maintenance needed?
 
Propane or Natural Gas yes do it.

Electric - I do not recommend. I have 2. One in the cabin and one in the barn. Both do well enough to make do.

Winter time temps keep them from getting the water hot enough. I am in Tennessee. Our ground water is quite a bit warmer to start with.
 
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We have one and it runs on natural gas. Very cost effective however, it takes a few minutes for the hot water to reach the faucet. I let the shower run in the mornings while I brush my teeth….by the time I’m done, the water is warm enough to get in, after another minute, it’s hot. Never timed it but I’d say 2-3 minutes for full hot water.
 
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On the maintenance side its pretty simple. All your doing is descaling the tanks. They make a solution thats at any box store. 2 5 gal buckets 2 short hoses and a small transfer pump. Solution goes in and does its thing and comes out. Not saying they are all the same but the ones we install have the connections all ready on them.
 
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Sauger said:
On the maintenance side it’s pretty simple. All you’re doing is descaling the tanks. They make a solution thats at any box store. 2 5 gal buckets 2 short hoses and a small transfer pump. Solution goes in and does its thing and comes out. Not saying they are all the same but the ones we install have the connections all ready on them.
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Yep, exactly this. ^^^

It’s pretty easy to do. I’ve done it myself a couple of times. But anymore, I just ask my HVAC guy to add it to the list when he’s servicing my furnace system.
 
450? Holy shit! I'm all electric around 150 a month (no furnace though).
Five of us with two teenage girls and a washing machine that seems to be running 24/7. We purchased a reehm electric 40gal basic water heater two years ago. It will run out of hot water after two long long showers, but wait a 45mins and it will be recharged......im going to go with a gas tankless for a huge walk in shower that i intended on spending hours at a time in on date nights with my wife but am very content with a basic reehm for everyday normal life. I installed a new 40gal electric for my parents new home and it's enough to never run out of hot water. Installing another one for an older bachelor this month as well.
 
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We are in the $450 a month range. All electric everything. 2 refrigerators, 4 deep freezers, 3 kids on electronics. All year around kind of expense.

Are you on the prorating (or whatever they call it to even it all year)? They could of based it off the last persons usage.
 
Smawgunner2 said:
No but that’s something we should probably look into. A 40 gallon tank for 1 bathroom seems overkill….if I don’t go the tankless route I might drop down to a 15 gallon.
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I would make sure it’s actually working like it should. Make sure it’s cycling on and off and both elements are working.
 
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