Electric Tankless water heaters

What do you have?

I have the gas tankless and love it. All 4 baths, washer and dishwasher could be running and the water will still be hot.

When ours start going out, I am switching a number of them to tankless. We have 5 hotwater heaters and 3 for sure could go tankless - maybe all 5.

I've got two hot water heaters in the attic over the 2nd story. They crackle and pop from the hard water build up and no way I'm going to mess with them again. Pretty soon I'm going to install gas tankless heaters. Rinnai or Rheem seem to be the trusted brands. Wish I could just leave those things up there...

Why are you heating hot water?

Elec tankless is worthless junk. Stick with gas or a tank if gas isn't available.

How does the water get hot?

That used to be the case, but they are good now.

With electric, hope your current breaker panel has enough juice to power one.

The water heater heats the cold water.

I disagree. The number of units you have to put in and electrical upgrades rarely make them a good choice, and this is new construction. Issues get worse and pricier when retrofitting. I'm putting 3 in for a guy right now. He is bringing them to me because my supply house won't sale them. He also signed a disclosure stating basically that our electrician would wire them to buyers provided manf specs, but have no responsibility for them actually providing any amount of hot water.

There may be scenarios where they work perfect but there was some massive upfront costs to make that happen.

Rinnai, on our second pr. here, 10 gph. first pr. lasted about 16 yrs. and were still goin strong when they were replaced due sale of property.

this ^ ^ ^

they will zap the electric bill too. unless you have electric for water heater now you have to run a high amp circuit and new brkr etc.

No wonder why it takes so long to get hot water, all this time I thought it was heating hot water but now I know it has to heat 50gal of cold water to 125deg every time I turn the faucet on.

Justify it however you want but they aren't called hot water heaters. I myself slip up and say it sometimes.

Southern lingo. To argue it is fruitless. It should heat water until hot. I comprehend the meaning whichever phrasing is used. 🙂

And it just stays hot forever once the heater gets the water hot? Crazy!

Correct. We tried them and went back. The electric ones will not keep up with normal household use. They only heat water about 25 degrees warmer than the incoming water and can not keep up. The gas ones work like a charm.
If you go tankess electric I would recommend one for each bathroom and one for the kitchen and laundry room.

I have taken more out then I have put in they suck

IMO, gas tankless is great unless you are retrofitting. Unless your tank water heater is right up next to an exterior wall, the retrofitting pretty much makes it too costly of an option.

Next time I am faced with a replacement, I am going to hook up two undersized tanked units in series. Instead of a 50 gallon gas water heater, I'll use two 30 gallons. Hooking up in series effectively doubles the total amount of tank capacity because WH#1 feeds WH#2 with already heated water. You'd have double the retention time when running and therefore it would be really hard to run out of hot water.

Better off getting a 50 then 30 of 30 will cost you a hell of a lot more

2 of our neighbors spent big bucks replacing their gas tank heaters with the tankless. Both have had issues with deposits clogging up
Something in the tankless heaters causing them to not heat the water enough. To me, they aren't cost effective to swap out. Maybe in a new build they could work, but after my neighbors complaints, think I'll stick with a traditional tank heater.

Well water Maybe sounds like they didn't have the ride installer put it in I've never had a problem on any of my gas tankless installs

My lake home is 3600 feet, have electric tankless water heater, my electric bill averages 85.00 a month.

Three 60 amp breakers to run 1 electric tankless heater.

Not in my house

I've been using a small propane tankless water heater in the studio and it does a good job filling a tub with hit water. We have to leave the tank outside and it's a pain setting it up just to fill the tub. I'm looking at a traditional gas tankless, just for the convenience of not having to bring a propane tank inside and then taking it back outside.
Any recommendations? Need about 30 gallons on hot water 3 times a week.

I have propane but the plumber told me it would cost more to operate than an electric one, we do not live there, just go up on some weekends, probably would have gone another route if we were full timers.

After 7 warrranty claims and a lot of learning in the process I agree. Our house was built in '02. 2,700 ft and the builder talked us into removing the water heater closet and going tankless. It hangs in the garage with main water service coming into it. There was no gas in our 'hood so electric was the only option. He had researched and found "the ONE" company in the world who manufactured an efficient system that could heat water for whole house consumtion - 3 full baths and 4 kids at the time.

Needless to say - 1. BOSCH might make a good product in other lines but they have not perfected the electric tankless yet; 2. BOSCH customer services SUCKS!; 3. Warranty replacement parts are shipped on your dime. 4. Mine has 2 tanks behind the panel - They will and can rupture. 5. When they work...they work great and are more efficient than a 50 gal. tank system. When they quit or have an issue there is no back up unless boosters have been installed in the bathrooms opposite of where the main unit is installed. (We did not exercise this option.) 6. If your water quality is poor to begin with invest your money in a water conditioning system BEFORE you go tankless. Even if you have a tank system a conditioning unit can add 3-5 years on your tank. 7. I am not a plumber or electrician but have become well versed with the ins/outs of my unit.

I will not go back with an electric system in my next house but I would do a gas tankless as they are much more reliable/efficient.

Never heard anything good about Electric Tankless

Thanks for the info. Was about to pull the trigger on electric tankless in our 40 yr old house.

I've got second thoughts on this. Thanks for the info.