On Jul 24, 11:58*am, ransley wrote:
On Jul 24, 1:43*pm, Anagram wrote:



I was going to get a whole-house tankless water heater, but changed my mind
after reading various forums with lots of complaints about them. *I like
the idea of tankless, but want to wait till we move to a better house,
where it will be easier to install one at every hot water faucet, and when
the technology might improve such that you could use any amount of hot
water from 1/10 GPM to 5 GPM, without any hot-cold sandwiches etc.

But I'm still shopping for a water heater. *I want a high efficiency, high
recovery one, but only 18 inches in diameter. *That's a lot to ask, because
it doesn't leave much room for insulation. *It would probably have to have
a special kind of insulation that provided more insulation per amount of
thickness. *I would be willing to pay about twice the price of a normal
cheap water heater. *Is there anything available that would provide what I
want?

My present water heater is 18 inches in diameter, 40 gallons, but not very
efficient. *And it's old and has a leak. *I want to hurry before the leak
becomes serious. *What would be my best bet in this situation?

True high effeciency will cost you, its called a condensing unit. Why
18", I think you will be out of luck. AO Smith is a good brand with
many different units up to maybe 85 EF. I have NG tankless and I have
yet to hear anybody here complain that actualy has one or knew a dam
about what they were talking about, complaining without knowing facts
from actual use seems to be a way people justify their present 50%
efficent tanks.

Tankless water heaters have there place but like anything else they
have limitations.

Ransley is a hardcore tankless cheerleader per his comment.....

I have yet to hear anybody here complain that actualy has one or knew a dam
about what they were talking about, complaining without knowing facts
from actual use

and anyone who doesn't agree with him is just plain wrong, misinformed
or stupid (did leave anything out?)

I guess that means only people who actually have a tankless w/h are
qualified to comment on a proposed install?

And that stuff about incoming water temp, btu's, temperature rise
capability, instantaneous hot water demand, hot water usage profile,
location of water heater, local year 'round ambient temperature &
installation elevation is meaningless?

I guess we should all drive a Prius independent of our real
transportation needs?

Yeah, I don't have a tankless but the Bosch rep talked me out of one
installation & my research convinced me that my other proposed
installation wouldn't pay for itself. I like the idea of tankless
but imo the numbers don't work in lots of situations.

cheers
Bob