Water heaters? Go electric or tankless? Anyone experience both? A few questions...

[ericcsong]

My water heaters pilot light keeps going out (three times in last 10 days) . The water heater might be ready to replace. We've lived here for 4 years and no problems since. Not sure how long the previous owners had it.

So if my pilot light keeps going out, what do you think the prob might be? Maybe not good circulation (clean around bottom)? Or the thermocouple needs to be replaced?
Or Maybe replace the whole thing?

If I replace ( I currently have gas), do I go electric or tankless?

Has anyone made the switch? Pros and cons?

Thanks!

[Acousticado]

I’m glad you’ve posed this question to the wealth of knowledge here. I’m interested to know as well.

[Fogducker]

Thermocouple easiest to check. After that its probably new water heater time.

Its great that you call it a water heater instead of hot water heater-----hot water doesn't need a heater!

Fog

[The Watchman]

The pilot for our gas heater would go out sometimes on very windy days, I infer from wind blowing down the chimney. I think they now make gas heaters without a continuously burning pilot light. I know gas ovens are like that.

A friend of mine installed a tankless gas heater because they were always running out of hot water. Their gas bill went up quite a bit after that, because, as he figured out, the wife and two teenage boys would spend much longer times in the shower.

[David Eastwood]

Our gas water heater is about 12 years old, so I’m expecting to have to replace it before too long. I started doing some research, and looked into tankless.

While I really like the concept, it would be impractical for me - the heater is in my basement, and there’s really no place to install a tankless heater down there and be able to vent it properly.

Originally Posted by The Watchman

A friend of mine installed a tankless gas heater because they were always running out of hot water. Their gas bill went up quite a bit after that, because, as he figured out, the wife and two teenage boys would spend much longer times in the shower.

That’s the other factor I had to consider. Our master bathroom is about as far away from the water heater as it’s possible to be in our house. It takes a while for the water to run hot in there as it is; it would be even worse with tankless. I did find out that some folks install an auxiliary heater of some sort close to the point of use to get around that, but that’s getting awfully complicated compared with just putting a new tank in.

As far as electric is concerned - I’d have to have the appropriate power run to the basement, and my understanding is that they cost significantly more to run. I’ll look into it more when the time for replacement comes.

[dhalbert]

I'll take advantage of the generalized title of this thread to to ask:

We can only have an electric water heater. In the 30 years we've been in the house, we've had to replace ours twice due to corrosion. The current one is overdue but has not started leaking. Do any of you have experience with corrosion-proof electric models? I have seen ones with plastic tanks mentioned, and perhaps there are also stainless steel models.

The trouble is that you usually have to order these in advance, and it's always an emergency when the current one starts leaking.

I would have changed the anode rod long ago to lengthen the life of the tank, but it is screwed in so tightly I can't budge it. If we get another conventional one, I'll ask the plumber to loosen and re-tighten it not quite so tightly before installation.

[rllink]

I have a tank heater here in the Midwest and an in line heater in my home that I had in San Juan. I liked the in line heater most of the time, but the water pressure in San Juan is not consistant. It takes a certain amount of flow to activate the in line heater. Sometimes we wouldn't have adequate pressure to get enough flow to reach the bathroom and that meant cold showers. When we had the pressure I liked it.

[KevWind]

We just put a new/old tankless electric in the mechanical room of our riding arena (understanding it was bought new about 12-15 years ago but never used until now), and frankly I am way not impressed, it gets the water only lukewarm
Now granted we have pretty cool ground water (maybe 40-42 degrees F) but still ?

[rokdog49]

A tankless system, if you are able to have on installed, will cost you $2500 or more...way more, especially in a retro fit scenario. The venting can be an issue.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates savings of anywhere between $25-$100 a year on your electric bill, not much of an incentive.
You can buy a good electric water heater for around $800-1000 installed and they are much more efficient these days.
When we built our home, I worked in the industry. I could have gone tankless, but chose not to. The payback was too long and they don’t last forever either
I’m not against them, but I just couldn’t see spending the extra when it was me and the wife. We had an 80 gallon electric with dual chambers and dual burners. We never ran out of water. It lasted 10 years. We replaced it with a 60 gallon of the same design.

With respect to the corrosion issue, there is likely a high mineral content in the water. That can be rectified with filtration or softener.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by KevWind

We just put a new/old tankless electric in the mechanical room of our riding arena (understanding it was bought new about 12-15 years ago but never used until now), and frankly I am way not impressed, it gets the water only lukewarm
Now granted we have pretty cool ground water (maybe 40-42 degrees F) but still ?

Something is wrong. That should not be the case.

[GaryJ]

We had an electric water heater and when it went we switched to a tankless gas heater. We're in an expensive area for electricity and our bill went down by $50 a month. There are a few quirks with a tankless but I would never switch back.
My daughter has a recirculating pump on their bathroom hot water line and they just hit a switch before taking a shower and there is no delay or wasted water with their tankless.

[rllink]

I put a new inline water heater in my home in San Juan four years ago. It was a Marcy brand and it cost me $280 installed. It heated the water to a temperature that was too hot to put my hands in without a bit of cold to temper it. It supplied hot water for the kitchen and one bathroom. That is, when we had the water pressure to provide enough flow to actuate it.

[Dirk Hofman]

We put tankless in the cabin a few years ago. No point in heating water when people aren’t around. Love it, and it saves about $100 over the very old standard one that finally died. Small house though, no idea how it would fare in a larger home.

[Everton FC]

May not be the most helpful, nor articulate response, but here it goes;

We went with a Hot Water on Demand option about three years ago. We have four kids - there were six of us using it when we installed it (my eldest is now married, my son-in-law's dad was to install it, but passed away, so my son-in-law, and apprentice plumber, installed the system - it's how he met my daughter!). Anyway, if you have multiple people wanting hot water simultaneously, if can be an issue. We can do the dishes and have a shower at the same time. It is suppose to be cheaper, in the long run. It certainly saves space. The biggest thing is you have to keep it clean - you have to keep it clean.

I don't mind it - but when I'm running a bath, and want to shave, the hot water from the sink-tap is like well-water on my in-laws farm in most-rural Saskatchewan - it comes out in a trickle. Some may think this an issue. I suppose it is. I'm not one of these people who likes to be rushed, so taking a bath on the farm, where filling the tub can take 20 minutes, is not something that gets to me. If you want a strong flow of hot water in multiple/simultaneous situations, might not be the right option. We don't mind it.

[MrDB]

Natural gas is much less expensive in our area than electric, so I have always had gas and no experience with electric.