"World Traveler" wrote in message
link.net...

Tankless water heaters were a standard "low end" product when I lived in
Asia (~15 years). The better apartments had hot water tanks.


Tankless heaters now have computerized controls that eliminate the wide
temperature fluctuations you experience with the older models. I was also in
Asia during that time frame and remember how quickly I woke up after taking
a shower where the water temp swung 40 degrees.





My experience with gas-powered tankless heaters is that they are, indeed,
a
low-end product, where the primary advantage was that they didn't take up
any floorspace. (The average apartment in Asia was about 600 sq ft total,
so every inch of space was used.)

People on this thread are asking the right questions, especially about
flow
rate. In my experience it was difficult to balance temperature and flow
rate; when you decreased the flow of hot water to get a comfortable
temperature, you could reach a point at which the gas suddenly cut off and
you went to full cold. Given the low cost and reliability of conventional
hot water tanks, I don't think the pay back period of a tankless heater is
persuasive.

I suspect installing a tankless water heater is a little bit like buying a
diesel car, being responsible for the two happiest days of your life --
the
day you first start to use it, and the day you finally get rid of the
#%$&^%# thing.

When we remodelled, I chose instead to put an additional hot water tank
adjacent to the new bathroom, which gives me almost instant hot water.
Regards --