This subject has really gotten a lot of attention. So, I'd like to
toss in my 2 cents....

I have a tankless unit and I think it is great in that there is
endless hot water and it is only creating hot water when needed.

The point I'd like to make is that there are MANY household items
that folks purchase that cost as much or more than tankless water
heaters and those items are not scrutinized in the way of efficiency
or payback. So, how does one justify paying $2,000 for a huge diagonal
LCD TV? Has anyone ever seen a big yellow EnergyGuide sticker on an
item like that?

Oh well, for what it's worth....

....Bob

"Wayne Whitney" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-11, cshenk wrote:

what about those of us who did check them out and found we get a
slight edge with a tank system? I used the links. It doesnt matter
if the cost of gas goes up or down a little as it's a ratio that
will still be there. I matched only newer gas 40g's to tankless of
the same output level.

I believe the cost of gas does matter. A basic tankless and a good,
normal efficiency tank will both have a marginal efficiency of about
80%. The difference is in the initial efficiency, since the tank has
the standby losses and the tankless doesn't. That is, for any usage,
the tank gas water heater will roughly use the same amount of gas as
the tankless would, plus a fixed amount for the standby losses.

So the natural gas savings of the tankless are basically independent
of usage, and the dollar savings depend exactly upon the price of
natural gas. For a given cost difference of the initial
installations, the payback time for the tankless will vary inversely
with the price of natural gas.

Yours, Wayne