Per Pavel314:
Our oil-fired water heater is getting temperamental and may have to be replaced. (It turns off overnight and needs to be reset but not on warm nights, only on cold nights.) A friend said that they got an electric tankless water heater at her house and always have hot water when needed for the three people living there. Any opinions or experience with tankless water heaters? They're supposed to be more energy efficient, from what I read, but the savings alone don't seem to justify the investment.

20 years ago, everybody where we visited in Germany has point-of-service
hot water heaters. Gas in the older houses, electric in the new. That
would be a device at each faucet in the house.

Now, for reasons I do not know, they have gone over to a single
tank-type heater for the house.

The only other thing I know is that, in the Dominican Republic where I
went on a windsurfing vacation once, the shower-mounted electric heaters
were referred to as "Widow-Makers".

Maybe somebody who actually knows something can comment.
--
Pete Cresswell