Good & bad of "Hot Water on Demand" hot water heaters?

We have a tankless water heater and love it. Saw an immediate reduction on our gas bill. We have a large tub and now we can fill it without running out of hot water. Tankless water heaters have a longer life span than the the regular tall tank models. We also gained floor space in our laundry room because it hangs on the wall. The unit will require a larger gas line. We installed the unit ourselves but hired a plumber to plumb the unit and run the larger gas line. I always hear that people don't like them because you have to wait for the hot water to get to your shower or sink. We had to wait with a regular tank model and I don't see how either model could give you instant hot water unless the unit was right next to the sink or shower. The cost works out to be about the same when you figure the life span of a tankless is 25 years and the life span of a regular unit is 10 years and sometimes less if you have hard water. In a 25 yr span you can buy 1 tankless or 2 regular units that use more natural gas. We are very pleased. Plumbers don't like them because they lose work because they last twice as long which means less calls for water heaters.

Hi ! I looked into this last year. . I have a small home , but my hot water heater was located in the spare bedrooms closet ( and really wanted the storage space ) I have an all electric house , and was told that the electric versions weren't as effective as the gas models. I was also told that I would need to upgrade my whole breaker box as well at an extra cost of about $1500. My home was built in 1970's. So, if you have an electric hot water heater or an older home do some extra research .

I have had both a traditional water heater and tankless. Tankless in my opinion is by far superior! First no need to be heating water when not in use and if your heater is older the potential for leaking is great as well as s the space needed. The tankless price has come down in years cinsiderly. Also such little space is needed to install, which is beneficial if space is limited. I didn’t have space constraints just sick of running out with 6 people and 50 gallon tank. 5 morning showers and I was last ... so I sure was awake with an artic blast lol. No more always hot on demand! I have not a single negative to say. Mine is now 10 years old and going strong cut bill almost in half by only hearing when needed. I purchased the biggest made for the time so he sure you plan accordingly . Don’t buy a two fixture style and expect to have hot water in four rooms . Go bigger if not sure. Example three showers four sinks a dishwasher can not get hot water all at once if your unit is for two appliances. But certainly you can have two showers going a dishwasher running and run a sink all at once if you have a four point of use unit! Try it you will love it!

We have the combo unit which is for hot water, baseboard heat and radiant heat.

It's about 7 yrs old. In the past year we've had nothing but problems. Error codes, shutoffs, etc. We had to have parts replaced. They are more expensive to repair and are not covered by our regular home sheild repair policy. Not all plumbers service these machines. The parts are also expensive. I wish to go back to a standard gas boiler and water heater. The space saving is not even so significant because I don't care to store anything around the unit anyway.