Utility Savings With A Tankless Water Heater

For residential customer who pays $50.00/ month on natural gas for Domestic water heating (DHW) ONLY, we project average savings of 30% based on same usage pattern. (Best way to find DHW energy cost, is to look at Natural gas bill during summer without heating.)
With the usage pattern the same, savings with a tankless unit will be on average 30%. Single person 55%, two people using tank 40%, three people 35%, four people 30%, five people 25%. Based on: $50.00 a month DHW gas bill, with an average of 30% savings, you would save $15.00 month or $180.00 per year. If a tankless water heater costs $1700.00 installed without any retrofitting, and the alternative tank type water heater costs $800.00 installed, the differential of a tankless water heater is $900.00. Payback is 5 years. The return on your investment is 20%. On average a retrofitted tankless water heater will cost approximately $2500.00 installed. According to Consumer Reports, because tankless water heaters cost much more than storage water heaters, it can take up to 22 years to break even—longer than the 20-year life of many models.

Requirements For A Tankless Heater

Gas Tankless Heaters There is a higher demand for the amount of gas with tankless water heaters. Our licensed plumbers know how to measure your household needs for gas. The gas line for your water heater is normally 1/2 inch, but our plumber will determine what size gas line is necessary to run your gas system correctly.

Electric Tankless Heaters Rinnai does not have electric tankless units available, but there are other brands available. However there are two distinct problems with electric tankless units. The first is the cost of electricity on average is significantly higher than LP or natural gas. The operating cost of electric tankless units tends to be much higher than the cost of operating a storage tank electric unit. The second problem is that they can only produce a relatively small amount of hot water because they require a large amount of electrical current to produce a significant amount of hot water. For example, you would need to provide about 120 amps of power to an electric tankless unit, which represents well over half the amperage capacity of a typical home and 5 times the amperage of one typical central air conditioning system. Before you consider installing an electric tankless unit, we recommend that you contact your local electric provider to verify you have enough electricity coming into your home to run a tankless unit on top of all your other electrical requirements.