Is My Water Heater Dying?

[jadnashua]

Tankless depends a lot on where you live, how cold th ewinter water is coming into the house, and your expectations. Given a good WH with decent insulation, a tank is still cheaper and requires almost no maintenance. A tankless will cost more to buy, install, and do regular maintenance to, and it may not end up that much (if any) less expensive.

My indirect tank on my boiler is sized such that I could essentially take an endless shower and may not ask for heat inbetween uses, so the standby losses are almost zero.

A tankless system may require an upgrade to either your gas supply or electrical supply to provide decent hot water flow, especially in the winter (my incoming winter water temps can approach freezing). I also found that low flow turn-on can be a pain.

[larryleveen]

I live in the Pacific Northwest near Puget Sound. It doesn't get very cold here because of the moderating effect of the water. Therefore I think that inflow temperature would not be very low.

The two of us use little hot water compared to your average American household, and also are good about using flow restrictors when soaping up in the shower.

We are very interested in tankless for saving _floor space_ in our utility room which makes tankless attractive.

I have been told that I _would_ need an upgrade in the size of the gas line for a tankless system.

So, with that in mind, I am interested in comments about how appropriate folks think tankless might be for us.

It is my understanding that "the devil is in the details" when it comes to tankless installs. Most bad experiences come from lousy workmanship, but someone who knows their stuff can do it and make it work properly.

[kingsotall]

Then a new thread would be appropriate for comments associated with said topic.

[Gary Swart]

I agree this thread is getting into an entirely different topic, but I will tag one comment to it. Tankless heaters have been shown to cost more over the long haul than conventional heaters. They are a great idea, but have not reached the point of being practical yet.

[vidman64]

Not a bad idea. I went tankless (gas) years ago.

I have a gas water heater, about the same age and it is experiencing the same problems, and I will check the tube to see if it is still there. But, if I determine that the heater is kaput, do I just look at therm charges on my gas, and kwh charges on my electric to make a decision on what to buy?

[jadnashua]

There's more to it than that! Electric is nearly 100% efficient. A gas WH can have a large range from 50-90% efficient. Standby losses are a little higher on gas. The gov labels should give you a good idea of the relative costs between same sized WH. Then, refactor for your local energy costs. The labels will say what numbers they used to come up with the cost.

[Gary Swart]

I know of no place that heating water with electricity is cheaper than heating with gas. Not only cheaper, but way, way faster recovery so you don't need as large a heater with gas.

[Redwood]

I know of no place that heating water with electricity is cheaper than heating with gas. Not only cheaper, but way, way faster recovery so you don't need as large a heater with gas.

Efficiency and cost are 2 different things.

Jadnashua is correct that electric water heaters are 100% efficient.
The element is immersed in water and there is no other place the heat can go from the element.

With a fuel fired water heater there is heat from the burner that leaves the unit without heating the water. This is the heat that goes out the vent. hence the less than 100% efficiency.

Now the cost is a whole different factor...
The electric company knows that...
Don't they use gas to boil water to make electricity?