On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:17:13 GMT, Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2008-04-13, RicodJour wrote:

With a tankless someone could take a longer shower at the same
temperature for the same amount of money, if that was their
preference.

I don't think that is actually true--the marginal efficiency is about
the same for a tank and tankless, assuming comparable combustion
technology (i.e. both 80% non-condensing). The tankless wins by
eliminating the fixed standby costs which are basically independent of
usage. So you could rephrase your statement as "with a tankless
someone could choose to spend some of their savings on a longer
shower, and still come out ahead, if it isn't too much longer."

And it loses due to startup time and people turning on the tap and doing
something else waiting for the hot water to be generated.