Jack wrote:
Considering switching to tankless water heater. Busy house, lots of
kids, so the neverending supply seems attractive.

I have always heard that they have trouble really heating the water
hot enough, especially here in the upper midwest when water comes out
of the ground pretty cold (maybe 40 degrees??)

Any experiences out there?

I am not sure you really want a tankless system. You will need to get
one with a capacity large enough to supply the maximum amount of water being
used at any one time. That means if you have two showers and a dishwasher
and a clothes washer all running at the same time, you are going to need a
really large capacity unit. If you only have one shower and will not be
doing dishes and washing clothes all at the same time, you should be OK.

I might suggest that a conventional system should also work. The only
real difference is the buffer. You tank type heater heats up a large volume
of water and it is available for use. You can use very high volumes of hot
water, but only as long as the total gallons used does not go over the
standing capacity of the heater. Even when being used some heating can be
going on to allow a constant usage of hot water as long as it does not go
over the capacity of the heater.

The standard tank heaters can have different tank sizes and they can
have different recovery rates. I suspect you can find one that will have a
large enough tank and recovery rate to handle your needs, just as you should
be able to find a tankless unit with a high enough rating to handle your
needs.

How many showers do you have now, what size heater (gallons and recover
data)? Are the showers old pre-restricted shower heads?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit