Electric Tankless water heater or tank?

[duckandbuckhunter]

Gas isn't an option. I'm replacing an 80 gallon electric tank. Gas is not an option. Which would you choose?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jwmetz]

If you have municipal water it’s hard to beat a tankless. If you have well water you might research it.

[Buckin Bronco]

I’ve had both. Not running out of hot water is definitely a plus with the tankless.

[AnythingFeathers]

Unless they have drastically improved, all electric tankless sucks. Could you not get a propane tank? I would get a propane tank and go tankless before I went back with electric anything. Even though the gas tankless needs electricity to ignite, a suitcase generator powers it easily. If you don’t have a whole home generator, that hot shower can be a life saver in power outages.

[waterbreaker]

A whole house electric tankless water heater requires a significant amount of power. Typically 3-4 50amp circuits. They are not practical for most applications. Like stated before can you get a propane tank?

[Steelin' Ducks]

I was in the same boat a few years ago. I ended up having a 500 gallon propane tank installed along with the tankless heater. I've been very pleased. Also ended up have lines ran for my logs and grill on the deck.

[Luvin' Labs]

I wouldn't buy an electric tankless. The power they require on start up is ridiculous. The downside for you is you're replacing an 80G tank which isn't available on the residential side anymore. Thank you government. The largest tank you can get is a 50G. You can add a tank booster/mixing valve and make a 50G operate like a 75-80G. There are also some decent hybrid options out there.

As mentioned above, don't rule out getting a propane tank and tankless heater. You can sign up for auto refill which will pretty much ensure you never run out of propane during a shower. That can suck.

Lots of options. Just don't have an electric tankless as one of them.

[Luvin' Labs]

I was in the same boat a few years ago. I ended up having a 500 gallon propane tank installed along with the tankless heater. I've been very pleased. Also ended up have lines ran for my logs and grill on the deck.

Go ahead and have another line run for a dual fuel generator and you'll be set.

[Saltydog235]

Get a propane tank.

[bloodline]

Electric tankless needs to be designed for- all the way to the power company transformer. Typical residential services are insufficient. Will it work, yeah. Will all your lights dim and various appliances struggle, yeah. Bad idea unless you have friends at the power company and you want to spend a shitload of money.

[DRDUCK]

I got 2-40/gal electric and I never even thought about running out of hot water

[USMCsilver]

Electric tankless is great for sinks. I've got one at my barn's outdoor kitchen and it's great.

Whole house isn't cost efficient, at all.

Sent from Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk; don't blame me for the phone's mistakes.

[Maggie Glover]

I have had electric tankless for almost 20 years and I am on a well. Love it. I am not an electrician or a plumber but I replaced my first myself. I have had no experience with gas, but the electric can be mounted inside my neighbor's gas is outside and becomes problematic in cold weather like last week. MG

[CurLee]

I’ve been thinking of adding one just for my shower alone. Living with a wife and two teenage girls equals many suddenly cold showers.

I too had to go from an 80 to a 50 when I last replaced. Thought of adding a second 50 right next to the existing?

ETA or an irrigation valve to isolate my 15yo’s shower and set timer to close between 5pm and 5am….

[DRDUCK]

I’ve been thinking of adding one just for my shower alone. Living with a wife and two teenage girls equals many suddenly cold showers.

I too had to go from an 80 to a 50 when I last replaced. Thought of adding a second 50 right next to the existing?

ETA or an irrigation valve to isolate my 15yo’s shower and set timer to close between 5pm and 5am….

Add another and you will never run out of hot water.

[blackstock]

F an electric tankless heater. We put in 500-600 water heaters a year(10-15% are 80 gallons) but might do 1 electric tankless and that is gonna be an absolute last resort. A full sized one pulls 150A, most houses aren't built for that.

Get a propane tank & install a tankless or go to Ferguson and get an 80 gallon. It's a matter of switching some wires around in the heater to have it run on 240V, it's gonna be the quicker and cheaper route, all though it still ain't cheap.

Putting back to back 40's will be cheaper initially(considering you can pull another feed for it fairly easy), but will cost more to operate and will start costing you money by year 3.

If you wanna come to pawleys, I'll give you one at my cost.

[mello_collins]

If gas is not a option then look at 80gal rheem hybrid water heater. I like mine. It makes noise like a small air conditioner. So I would not want in my house. Mine is in garage and also cools and dehumidifies garage a little bit. Significant savings and slight conditioning of garage as a bonus.

[duckandbuckhunter]

Thanks for all the replies. Very good info here! I think we will get a tank and propane on demand water heater. I'll add attachment points for grills also. Thanks everyone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Palmetto Bug]

Get them to run gas to your kitchen while they're at it so you can switch to gas next time you need to replace the stove. Cooking with gas is a world better than on electric burners.

[DRDUCK]

Get them to run gas to your kitchen while they're at it so you can switch to gas next time you need to replace the stove. Cooking with gas is a world better than on electric burners.

TRUTH! I will never cook on lectric again