Water Heater. advice on tankless water heater, gas vs electric ?

[Rahel Ketema]

Hi BP experts, 

I have Water Heater tack 2 sharing between 3 units. One of the water heater tank almost at end of its life. I would really like to change with Tankless. as tankless will give me lots of extra functional space. 

Any Pro and con with tankless water heater, gas vs electric? I appreciate you advise in advance.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Rahel Ketema:

Hi BP experts, 

I have Water Heater tack 2 sharing between 3 units. One of the water heater tank almost at end of its life. I would really like to change with Tankless. as tankless will give me lots of extra functional space. 

Any Pro and con with tankless water heater, gas vs electric? I appreciate you advise in advance.

For a rental, I wouldn't do it. If you are going to do it, and you have gas available, that's the way you want to go. Electric is limited in the amount of flow and since one heater serves multiple units you really don't want renters running out of hot water. This is really a situation where the old standby is the best situation.

That said, you can get traditional water heaters in many different sizes - I sometimes use shorties where I have to put one behind a false cabinet; I've used the long tall Sallys in closets. You will still have a footprint but you can try to suit your needs. Alternatively, you can look at moving the heater altogether to someplace that would work better, though you will spend money there.

With rentals you want to think easy and convenient. Changing a regular old water heater, if you can get at it, is a really simple job - I can do an electric one where I can access all sides in less than an hour, and that includes draining the tank and cleaning up.