So I posted a while ago about needing to get our two 50 gallon water heaters replaced. A plumber was able to do a temporary fix so we could put it off until after the holidays and now we need to get it done.
We were about 90% convinced to get a tankless heater but after talking to some plumbers and doing research online, I am waffling.
According to consumer reports, it would take over 25 years to make your money back on tankless due to how much more they cost to buy and install. They point out that most warranties on tankless are 15 years so you may never even break even before you have to replace them.
There is also annual maintenance that has to be done on tankless (especially if you live in an area with hard water which we do) and if you have a plumber do it, that adds another 300 dollars a year. Typical savings is around 5-10 dollars a month on gas tankless vs tank.
Additionally, it takes longer for the water to heat up so you can end up wasting water sitting waiting for it to get hot.
On the plus side, however, is that once it is hot you get unlimited hot water and the risk of a house getting ruined from a water heater is significantly less with a tankless for obvious reasons. They also take up a lot less space, but ours are in a a room of our basement with plenty of space so that's not a concern for our situation.
We have never run out of hot water with our current two 50 gallon tanks, even with all 5 of us showering and running the dishwasher and laundry.... so am I missing something? Does it make sense for us to get a tankless vs just replacing with two new tank ones?
