Disclaimer: I'm a little old fashioned. I'm sort of with @Judy P. I work full-time at a plumbing company and - while tankless solutions are fine for certain families - they really aren't for everyone. Their main benefit is the endless supply of hot water. But, if you don't have a family of five taking concurrent showers, the value of the tankless begins to diminish. My main struggle with them - apart from the fact that they can be quite expensive - is that they still seem a little finicky (must have the precise gas volume, water pressure, exhaust venting, etc). We are constantly going on calls where we have to troubleshoot error codes by calling the Tech Support lines that are only moderately helpful. Now, in about five years, I think tankless heaters will be pretty much everywhere and will have most of the kinks worked out.

@Carlos Fernandez We do not play-up the solar thermal SHW in our advertising. Naturally, it usually comes-up before we even enter the building to show a unit. Sadly most prospective tenants still have never heard of heating water with the sun and quite a few figure it is a summer-time only thing. That said, the basic functioning of the system is simple to explain and most folks think its cool once you walk them through it. Do we get more rent for it? No, but it, along with our improvements to the building envelop are starting to show lower turnovers. @Kimberly H. The EPA increasing the baseline efficiency and stand-by heat loss requirements of storage tank water heaters does not automatically imply the tanks have to get bigger. Manufactures have the option of switching to better insulation (high-density closed cell foam, vacuum insulated panels, etc) and could exceed the new benchmarks without making the tanks physically larger.

$1500 - $4K for an installation? ... inclusive of the heater, I presume? We installed six for that price.

Tankless water heater are preferable than tank water heaters when its comes to investment.

We do play-up the solar thermal and other building improvements, and have had really great tenants. This is the first complete summer of operation, and gas bills are zero. So we're now able to calculate just how much we are saving them, and will probably factor that into future rent increases. Like Roy, we also have lower turnovers. Our system (described in more detail on some other thread that I'm not finding right now) has an 80 gal storage tank that's feeding 2 40 gal gas water heaters. The gas will be used in winter when the panels are covered with snow, but otherwise not much. I now have water temperature in the 80 gal tank logged hourly since April.

I have 40 gallon tanks (gas though) in rental houses that are 3BR/2BA and even 4BR/2BA (and of course there is laundry too for both), and not getting any complaints about hot water. So I agree with a previous post that you should be good with that since each unit will get 40 gallons.

@Jon S. I live in a 2/1 house with a 40 gallon and have had zero issues.

I replaced my personal water heater a couple of years ago and asked the plumber what he thought of them when he was installing. He said he thought they were a good idea but the technology is a couple of years away from being where we want it to be.

Stick with a tank, tankless units are mainly installed in areas where a tank won't fit, the hot water doesn't get to the designated area soon enough, or other things of that nature. I installed one so i would get instant hot water in my upstairs bathroom. Those are the main applications for tankless, stick to a plain tank.

Updated over 8 years ago on 02/04/2018. Most recent reply

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Jeffrey GiffinPoster

Professional
Wilmington, DE

General Landlording & Rental Properties

Tank vs tankless?

Jeffrey GiffinPoster

Professional
Wilmington, DE

Posted July 24, 2015 16:35

Does anybody have any experience in tankless water heating systems? I've been wondering if it would make more sense to put a tankless water heater into a rental property as opposed to your standard traditional tank. What are your thought?

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Steve Babiak

Real Estate Investor
Audubon, PA

Steve Babiak

Real Estate Investor
Audubon, PA

Replied July 28, 2015 04:47

What is the fuel source? If gas, then you have to check whether your gas lines (all the way to the street main) can handle the peak BTU demand. If electric, you have the peak demand issue but in addition reviews if some electric units have unhappy reviewers. So check reviews for specific models if you determine you can handle the peak load demands.

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