Yes and no. How many people do you have in your household? If it is just you and your spouse then tankless is easlily worth it. I had one installed for less than $1,000. My power bill dropped $40 per month. I was replacing an energy efficent one that was less than 2 years old...had the money and made a good investment. You could continue with a tank heater and just put it on a timer so that it was not going off and on when you were not there. Lots of options. I would look at the gas ones vs the electric ones before I bought.

Its all about being green! Save the enviroment. IF you have the money that is. Further more, Yes, you save money on taxes and your monthly bills but there is the large start up costs.

There is a whole episode on "Living with Ed" Begley. GO Planet Green! :)

Living with Ed Episode: Jay Leno's In Hot Water!

Great show. I don't know why the text came out so large...

Either way, good luck on your search!

Regards,

Jonathan Katz

At 4K -5K it will reach green status in about 20 years.

The answer is it depends. It depends where your current water heater is located, and how much it would cost to modify your existing property to accommodate a tankless water heater. There's a lot more involved in some cases than just replacing the water heater with a tankless one.

I looked into it, as the cost of the unit made it look competitive, but the cost of installation -depending on city requirements can make it prohibitive. Hence, the price in the $4-5K range. Some cities (for safety reasons as the tankless burn hotter than the regular water heaters require upgrading of the gas line, as well as special ventilation. My water heater is located in the interior of my home making the added piping and ventillation cost prohibitive. I could try going with an electric tankless water heater, but the savings of electric tankless v. gas regular water heater doesn't support it (I also would have an electrician install a new 220 hook up for waterheater - which would be much less than the piping and venting requirements).

Theoretically, some company -if it hasn't already - will probably come up with a tankless water heater that doesn't require that much modification to the property, but then the problem will be getting the cities to change ordinances to allow those models to be used without the same modifications required for the other tankless water heaters.

The true savings come from the use of extra energy. Traditional water heaters work constantly to keep the water hot. Even when not is use. Tankless heats on demand. Never runs out. You just pay for what you use.

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I had a plumber out yesterday who recommended a tankless water heater over a traditional tank. The cost was almost twice as much however he said the tax break and the water savings was worth it.
Is anyone using a tankless water heater? At 4k - 5k it will be a while before I purchase one but it appears to be the way to go.

-Brian

Thanks for the responses. One thing thing to consider is that if I have access to unlimited hot water I will end up using more (possible a lot more). Right now my 40 gallon tank provides enough hot water for a couple of showers.