If your dependent on plumbers for your plumbing needs, your local plumbers will greatly impact the economics of your decision.
The majority, and people who buy these units?
Never drained their water heater once a year.
Explain how the thinking will now change on these matters.
I defend my own statements because I have hands on plumbing products every day, and people do not understand that these devices are not a put-it-in-and-forget-it mentality.
That's why I come to the plate on these discussions because the "average" homeowner, the "majority" that use nearly "all" plumbing systems are not going to have the insight like a select few of you crunching therms and showing $2.75 savings like it was a free 2 liter of pop at the local convenient store.
The reality is maintenance is the key to run these devices, when they malfunction like they will, they are expensive and the average customer isn't going to understand "clean flow switch screen" or know how to troubleshoot a code error on the digital touchscreen on the unit.
You can information overload the internet with tankless treats, but the average consumer is forced to call a plumber OR tech support to get their hot water back.
The basic of idea of creating hot water just got more difficult, not simpler. That's not to say that tankless won't have its place in America, it will.
Anyone who buys one of these is a daredevil right now since the odds are against them that their neighbor has one, and someone knowledgeable is right there to fix them when they break, immediately...
not hours I'm speaking of, days. Do you know what it is like to be without hot water for days?
What happens if a certain "part" costs more than a tank heater to replace? Now you're faced with a device that in average thinking, a tank heater for less as a whole looks pretty darn inviting from that aspect of keeping money in your pocket.
Isn't that what this product is all about, keeping money in your pocket?
IF you pay a plumber annually to correctly delime/descale these units according to mfg. specs, call on them to fix every malfunction these units have over the course of time, there are no numbers you'll ever produce that states in legitmacy that the cost outweighs the performance value. Never.
Anything mechanical can and will fail. A retrofit to a newer model won't allow a reconnect to the existing stainless steel flue, it will void the warranty even though it is the same damn thing.
These are all "charges" that get way-layed into the customers back pocket, all the while the plumber is making a mint on the green idea.
Why is it that a tank water heater after initial heat up can maintain ready to use hot water for days, on just a standing pilot alone? Or are you going to tell me that the cost of that flickering match flame is ungodly expensive and horrible in gas consumption.
There's lots of observants that follow my thinking when I type on the internet about these products. They might not ever put their voice to print, but I think they understand that I'm pointing out some very credible points of interest in the concern of going after new ideas that can have one simple common issue, cost.
So as a troubleshooter as a service plumber constantly working on products such as these, understanding the ins and outs of how things work,
You provide the positives and I'll provide the actuals. I think that's a fair and balanced approach to any time someone cheerleads something that in actual time span is going to have to realize that there's hidden costs to when plumbing attacks.