DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Tankless water heater?

I am considering changing over to an electric water heater, and seen this product. I am curious if anybody has ever used one like it, or has any experiance with tankless water heaters.
SETS tankless water heater

Tankless water heaters are great, depending on the size of your family (and your hot water usage) you may need more than one. The problem with tankless water heaters is, if your retrofitting one into an existing house, the ventilation requirements can run up your bill substantially. They have this special "pipe inside a pipe" vent that has to run from the unit to a point above the roof line. You can't just reuse your existing water heater vent pipe. This can mean ripping out drywall, tearing up ceiling, cutting holes in the roof.... depending on what your set up is now, the vent pipe alone could end up costing you twice as much as the unit....

I'm not trying to talk you out of them, they really work well, but make sure you know the whole installation deal before you sign on the dotted line to have somebody install one.

Can't you vent that to the existing chimney vent or thru the wall? I've seen new fireplaces and wood stoves put in where they vent those thru the wall with type of pipe.

I have one. I love it. They told me the gasones are better than the Electric so thats the way I went and have no problems for the last 3 or 4 years. We bought the biggest one ( 1100 bucks ) and it has payed for itself already. We have plenty of hot water for two showers at a time and in the summer we get a lot of company and never run out of hot water.
Mine is called Aqua Star 240 FX.

Sure, you can probably go through the wall then up... but then you still have to go to a point above the roofline... and not many people want a vent pipe exposed and stuck to the side of their house... as I said, without seeing exactly where it would go, it's hard to tell how difficult it would be to vent it.

True. Could get expensive depending on the install I'm sure. I've heard they're very efficient.

The pictures, from the SETS doesn't show any exhaust. It is an electrical only unit. I wouldn't want to go through all the jazz with a new exhaust. It would be safe to say the science behind it is reliable, but installation costs, might be problematic. I looked at the specs, and it doesn't say anything about exhaust either. I may try calling them for more info on installation.

They are very efficient and I would advise anybody building a new house to use one. Installing them up front is about the same as installing a normal gas water heater... it's the retrofit expenses that kill you.

Thats all the folks have been putting in their homes down here for many , many years .. And the gas are real , real cheap to operate ! The cost for one down South is less than $400.00 in most case's !

LOL.

Read the fine print.,

112.5 amps. Most household electical services are 200 amps. 100 or 150 if there is no AC.

Be prepared to upgrade your electical service.

LOL, well it looked good on the cover. . Maybe, Ill check it again, if/when we decide to go build one.