On Thursday, January 31, 2013 8:19:07 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Jan 31, 11:09*am, wrote:

On Thursday, January 31, 2013 6:19:43 AM UTC-8, wrote:

On Jan 31, 9:05*am, "Existential Angst" wrote:



http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pag.../Longevity/tan...



Now, this guy sells anodes'n'**** for tanks, but I found his take



level-headed.



The raw thermodynamics of tankless -- esp. gas tankless -- puts one big



strike against tankless from the gitgo.



--



EA



It's a decent summary of the various issues involved. *The



only points where I would disagree are where he claims it's



$600 for an installed tank versus $2500 for an installed



tankless and more if it's a retrofit. *I can see the $2500+ for



some, maybe a lot of retrofits. *But for a straight swap it



seems very high. *And I would disagree that a well insulated



tank type unit's energy issue is only the pilot light and loss



through the pipes. * The basic, cheap conventional that



he's comparing to has a flue that goes right up the middle



of the hot tank. * A significant amount of heat is lost via



that path when the tank is just sitting there. *You can



reduce that path via one of the direct vent type units,



but then those are significantly more money and like a



tankless have more install work involved for a retrofit.



I also have some doubts about the claims that manufacturers



of tankless come and go. *That may be true with some, but



there are major manufacturers that have been around a long



time, including well established companies that make both



tank and tankless.



Just because a manufacturer is still “around”

doesn’t necessarily mean that they still carry the parts.

Most manufacturers of anything don’t maintain parts

for anything over five years old.



That sure has not been my experience. Recently bought

a carb kit for my Sears snowblower that's 15+ years old.

I regularly find any part I've needed for my 33 year old

classic Mercedes. And just found parts for my Stihl chainsaw

that's 40 year old.

In the latter case, not all the parts are still available new, but

that's an extreme case. And even then, used parts show up

on Ebay. I can't recall when I've had a

problem finding a new part for something that's worth repairing

that's 10 or 15 years old. The key is "worth repairing".

If it's a $25 appliance, well, that's a different story.









I can’t begin to count the times

I have had to give-up on a model of something or another

just because they no longer had a part for it.- Hide quoted text -



- Show quoted text -

I had to tell my client that the cartridges
for his top of the line matching Grohe
lavatory faucets were no longer available.
The faucets were fifteen years old
and for a high prices manufacturer like Grohe
that’s considered very new.
Sure you might be able to get it on E-Bay
but you won’t know if you’re getting a rebuilt
that’s going to start leaking in a few months.
Another client had a built in Kenmore microwave oven
that Sears said they no longer had the magnetron to.
I can understand not having some obscure part but a magnetron?
Give me a break.