Tankless water heater- yea or nay?

[sandandsea]

We will likely need to replace our water heater soon. Would you get a tankless system or a traditional? Budget isn’t the top concern. I want sufficient nearly instant hot water to be comfortable. Mild climate, VHCOL if it matters.

[aprilsails]

If you get a tankless water heater make sure you get one with recirculating and the ability to run schedules. The older model one we had at our last house did not have these features and it ran so much cold water before the heated water kicked in. It also sometimes did this horrific cycling where it would get hot and then cold and then hot and then cold and I was in the shower and this was not acceptable.

With the recirculating function and schedule you could set it to continually heat water at specific times (ie if you know you shower at 6:30 most weekdays) and then again during dinner prep so you would not have to deal with a minute of cold water.

[k3am]

In your location, I would stick with the tank. Power outages suck, but having enough hot/warm water for a shower or two (or more if you’re careful) is really nice.

[dr.girlfriend]

We just got a tankless heater for our addition. We love it so far, I have a huge soaking tub and having unlimited hot water is great. I haven't noticed any issues with water heating up, but we have a thermostatic shower so I just click it on and then get out of my pajamas and it's hot by the time I get in. We didn't have room for a huge hot water tank anywhere.

ETA:  I did read something -- maybe on the Houzz message boards? -- where you can do an extra circulating constantly hot water something or other that gives you instant hot water until your tankless heater kicks in?  Not sure what all that is about though but maybe something to consider if budget is no issue.

[pierogigirl]

We had to switch 2 years ago because our tank was under some stairs with very limited room. New tanks are bigger and it wouldn't fit. We've been very happy.

[mrsukyankee]

Tankless is what we use traditionally in London due to small apartments (and people with houses are moving to them too). We haven't had any issues with ours in the past.

[cmeon]

We will get a hybrid tank when we need to replace our water heater. I love their energy efficiency, but, an added benefit is that they cool off the room they're in (and ours are in the garage, where I do a lot of my hobbies).