Sep
4
I Am Starting to Dislike Tankless Water Heaters
September 4, 2008 | Comments Off
My in laws swear by them (they live in a country where electricity costs are severe compared to the US). I have thought about them, especially when I have to maintain three separate homes and the hot water heaters tend to break every 10 years or so. But after reading the last Consumer Reports article I am not so in favor of these new inventions, mostly due to the installation cost difference that I wasn’t aware of.
Take a look at a portion of the table they publish on their article (for full table and article, grab a copy of the magazine at your closest newsstand):
| Model | Takagi T-K3 | Standard 50 Gal Tank |
| Retail Price | $800 | $480 |
| Install Cost | $1200 | $300 |
| Annual Operating Cost | $320 | $400 |
| Annual Energy Savings | $80 | N/A |
| Payback time (years) | 15 | N/A |
I don’t even know if I will live/own a home for 15 years.
Sure, there is one advantage of these heaters: the tank doesn’t burst and floods your basement. I wonder if they have some system that automatically shuts off the water if it breaks or if the unit is broken. For now… Unless there is something like that, I can’t see too many benefits of owning one of these units.
Do you ?
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