We will be building a new house in 2025.
So, we are considering the new tankless water heaters.

What are your experiences and opinions?

Tips for locations, installations, brands to avoid, brands to use, sizes?

What do we need to know?

Thanks in advance to the experienced and the experts!

We have an electric tankless water heater. It's great. It was easy to put in. It saves a lot of money compared to a traditional gas or electric water heater. To keep it working well, we need to descale it a few times a year, because we have lots of minerals in our water. Descaling is easy as long ax we don't wait to long to do it. I recommend getting one.

Keith

Mine is electric,,,,uses a lot of power
I can take a the longest shower with my wife and never be cold… and ,,,,,,,

Go with propane or LNG, faster and more efficient heat source than electric.

Now I have to put a hole though my roof ?

I only put this one in because it in clearance at HD......cheap...
.
2x2x6
My water comes out of the ground at 42 degrees
I did have to wire 3 40 amp breakers in..
Love it......
5 years old on well water..

I’ve got one. Be strategic about where it’s placed, as my experience is that it takes a little longer for the water to heat up. Our master is closer to where it’s at in the garage and we get hot water much faster than in the kids room on the other side of the house. They may have to run their showers for a couple of minutes before it’s hot.

Not a big issue, but it seems to take a little longer than before with a traditional tank system.

I have a friend who is a plumber. They have put in hundreds of them over the last decade. His advice - go with gas and go with the biggest unit available. Ours is in the basement and is vented through the same area as the furnace. We love ours and have had no problems over the 8 years we have had it. Heats up instantly and no shortage of hot water. A person could be running the dish washer, washing machine and taking a shower and there would be no difference.

Willy, we’ve had a Bosch tankless for about 10 years, ours is propane. It would be beneficial if you could locate it near center of your home. If I were building a new home I would consider an additional tankless unit for the kitchen. Maybe under sink in basement. Possibly a small electric if venting is not possible. Ours has no pilot , the water moving lights the pilot. No energy consumption when not in use.

I looked into an electric one as I don’t have a gas service. As for the hydro savings, our rate is 9.587¢/kWh Canadian cents, I’ll be dead by the time I’d break even so I’m sticking with my old one. When it calf’s out I’ll get a new style old tech one again.
I guess it depends on your electric rates, some places might have rebates for energy saving stuff like insulation, windows, furnaces etc so check with your utility for some possible $ back.

I looked into an electric one as I don’t have a gas service. As for the hydro savings, our rate is 9.587¢/kWh Canadian cents, I’ll be dead by the time I’d break even so I’m sticking with my old one. When it calf’s out I’ll get a new style old tech one again.
I guess it depends on your electric rates, some places might have rebates for energy saving stuff like insulation, windows, furnaces etc so check with your utility for some possible $ back.

I have had a gas tankless for 15 years with next to no problems. My family probably owns 6-8 of them in our houses and lodges. They are fantastic in my experience. They do take a bit to get hot water to the tap but around here most new homes have a recirculating pump added so hot water is instantly at the tap. Make sure and cover the exhaust with a fine mesh to keep the moths out of the fan inside of the heater. Trapping pan screen is perfect for covering the exhaust.

We have a natural gas one and love it. Keeping a big tank of water at 120 degrees 24/7 seems silly when you only use hot water for a couple hours a day.

I inherited a Rheam tankless propane when when we purchased this home 8 years ago. It is a larger-than-we-needed home and prior owner had set it up with a 5-gallon electric heate with circulating pump. Nearly instant heat and then tankless heater takes over. One recent holiday with guests visiting, I noticed we had all 3 showers in use, the dishwasher running and a load of clothes in the washing machine. I asked if anyone ran out of hot water...nope. im sure sizing sure sizing has a lot to do with it, but those things flat crank out the hot water...
I see where Rinnai is highly rated now....get on those plumbing blogs and read what they say about the different brands....they deal with them everyday

Go gas.

If i could do it again i would have framed my wall a little different. It does make a little bit of noise and anchoring it to the studs translates the sound through the walls. Its not bad, I just wish i would have thought of that before I installed. People sound insulate bathrooms a lot, but the pantry/wash room areas are more important IMO

You will also have a fresh air intake and exhaust housing for the unit which “breathes” quite a bit. Its nice to locate that on the least used side of the house