Owner of a tankless water heater

I bought one tankless water heater for my brand knew home I built for myself in 1999. It made it 2 years, then the mother board went out, I went through 3 boards mailed to be, after the 4th board I gave up. Luckily I put in a normal 50 gallon water heater as a back up. I just replaced that 50 was looking into the tankless again, I worked good when it worked.

I figured after all these years they may have improved them but by looking at the reviews. I don't know how they can still be in business. It's a shame, I build homes for a living and was hoping to see these work better.

So far I have not seen nor heard to much positive words from anyone that has had one for more than 2 years without any problems.

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Feb 06, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		tankless didnt save energy
by: marshall

I just retired my bosch tankless after 8 years of perpetual problems...electronic failures, constant resetting, seasonal recalibrations.

Its smaller footprint was about its best attribute. what id like folks to know is that the switch over to the tankless was very expensive; larger gas line, stainless flues, and installation and maintenance.

Furthermore, after comparing 7 years of energy data on the gas tank heaters (before and after the tankless) i actually found the tankless consumed more energy... and water.

My installation was for a primary residence family of 4, and as best i can determine the standby loss on properly insulated tanked heaters is minimal (even the older tanks with pilot lights used that heat to warm the water and was not wasted).

The tankless heater wasted about a gallon of water per call on cold lines as the "cold water sandwich" was expelled, and wasted about a half gallon per short cycle waiting for the temperature to drop and then rise back up to the desired temperature (a la washing and rinsing the dishes). In addition to this wasted water went along the energy consumed to overcome the cold water sandwich. And of course there were gallons of water wasted when the tankless heater tripped and you waited soaped up in the shower praying that someone heard your cries to reset the darned thing.

We rarely showered in the winter without a shower buddy on standby. Once the pilotless tanked heater had replaced the problematic tankless unit we all breathed a sigh of relief and were astounded at what we had put up with.

Your results may vary, but do your research. I noticed the marketing of hybrid tankless units now with small standby tanks, i guess even tankless manufactures got tired of taking cold showers.

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