# tankless water heater or the holding tank



## kserr (Nov 25, 2008)

Hi

I've just started burning pellets this season swithching from oil.  I can heat my whole house with the pellet stove my hot water though is still off the oil monster.  What I want to do is either go tankless or use  a 30 gallon holding tank.  I will probably go with propane.  I need some input on which one to go with .  I know the tankless will cost me double to purchase but if its more cost effcient to operate maybe it will be worth it in the long run.  Any input would be helpful.


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## tubbster (Nov 26, 2008)

I've got a Rheem tankless on order, but no experience.


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## rowerwet (Nov 28, 2008)

I had a 40 gal tank propane hot water heater, when it died I put in a Paloma tankless. From new putting in a tankless makes sense, but you want to put it in just for the savings it's not a real savings. my gas bill dropped after installing the Paloma and the galons used was less. however I did this 2 years ago, and added another child, so I can't remember the numbers. the paloma is great and I love the remoted thermostat, I installed it in my bathroom and now I just set the temp I want and never turn on the cold water.


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## PaulRicklefs (Nov 29, 2008)

kserr said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> I've just started burning pellets this season swithching from oil.  I can heat my whole house with the pellet stove my hot water though is still off the oil monster.  What I want to do is either go tankless or use  a 30 gallon holding tank.  I will probably go with propane.  I need some input on which one to go with .  I know the tankless will cost me double to purchase but if its more cost effcient to operate maybe it will be worth it in the long run.  Any input would be helpful.



I am a gasfitter and I put my own propane tankless in last spring.  We really like it!  Only downside is you WILL have a 3-4 second delay vs your tank water heater getting your hot water.

Other than that we noticed that our electric tank heater cost us about $40/month in power and the propane tankless is costing us about $20.  The cost of propane and electric is almost the same in our area.

So the cost of install was around $1700 for a 0751 Noritz including venting.  Of course the gas supply might be an issue with you as you need to size for 180,000 btu for that particular unit.  No problem for me as I do the labour for free and I can pull my own permit.

Overall at about $240 a year savings we expect a break even payback of just over 7 years.  Perhaps 10 years if we paid to have it installed.

Unit is expected to last 20-30 years so I think we'll be ahead of the game.  I'm also fairly environmentally concerned so I feel better knowing that I'm not using any more energy than we need.  Of course I'll be getting solar DHW soon and that will hopefully reduce our energy usage even further.


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## kserr (Nov 29, 2008)

Thanks for the info food for thought ;-)


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## Crabbypatty (Nov 29, 2008)

i have a takagi tk3 tankless on demand water heater. i can't say enough good things about it. it was expensive to install....but the fuel savings and the endless hot water are worth it. mine is 199,000 BTU's maximum, and it modulates based on demand. if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me as i have done some extensive research before installing mine, which i actually did myself.


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