On Jul 24, 3:52*pm, wrote:
On Jul 24, 4:28*pm, BobK207 wrote:



On Jul 24, 12:57*pm, wrote:

On Jul 24, 2:58*pm, 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.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Given the requirements of:

fast recovery
high efficiency
small size
not cost sensitive

I'm left wondering, why not get a whole house tankless? * But there is
a lot we don't know, like what fuel options you have.

I think the OP is willing to pay double the cost of a cheap tank type
w/h......

can he get full whole house tankless for that price?

He can get a whole house tankless for $750 - $1000. *I'd say that
qualifies as a YES. *And if you factor in the elimination of standby
losses over time, it sounds like a potentially viable solution,
depending on what fuel he has available.



Honestly, a *tankless install makes me a little nervous......all that
up front cost & hassle plus heat exchanger life ???? and the distinct
possibility of an under performing system. *Maybe only in fringe use
cases, but big initial bucks *(& questionable payback) for the
occasional lukewarm shower is *something I'd like to avoid.

And I'd say you're at least as biased against them as you claim
Ransley is biased in favor of them. * At least as Ransley says, he has
one installed.



Maybe if I owned Ted Kaczynski's cabin & lived his previous life style
but I don't see tankless working for me & my life.

But we're not talking about your life style. * We're talking about
someone who:

Wants rapid recovery
High efficiency
Is willing to pay 2X the cost of a regular WH
Has a small space reqtt, etc.

You see many conventional water heaters that fit that bill?



cheers
Bob- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

And I'd say you're at least as biased against them as you claim
Ransley is biased in favor of them.

You're mis-reading my post, I'm not biased against them, imo
they're not the "end all & be all" some claim them to be.

If you re-read my posts you'll see that I say they are appropriate &
will work fine but NOT in ALL installations, specifically the two I
investigated.


Ransley has personal experience with one installation & it works fine
for his house, his life style

I calc'd two proposed installs & the numbers didn't look too favorable
for performance or for payback so I passed.
One install was additionally nixed by the Bosch rep, I guess he's
biased as well?

I don't see how any of this makes me biased......imo, just careful,
cautious & conservative.

cheers
Bob