Tbh, from my experience at the store, tankless water heaters aren't the energy savers they're made out to be for most places.

3 comments

3 Comments

Look at the numbers over time though. A good tankless unit only heats water when you turn the faucet on, so you cut out all that standby loss from a tank constantly keeping gallons hot. For a bigger family running lots of laundry and showers back to back, the efficiency really adds up. The upfront cost is higher, but the gas or electric bill savings every month are real if your house uses a lot of hot water. They last almost twice as long too, which matters in the total cost.

willow_carter3mo ago

Seeing @james_allen24's point on tankless units connects to a bigger trend I notice. Honestly, folks focus too much on upfront cost and miss the long-term savings. Tbh, my neighbor stuck with his old water heater and now pays way more in energy bills. It's like how LED bulbs cost more at first but save a ton over years.

bell.emma21d ago

Roll my eyes every time someone brings up standby loss like it's a huge deal... I mean yeah technically you're not heating water 24/7 but you're also standing there waiting forever for hot water to reach the shower while that little gas burner fires up and runs way longer than it would need to on a regular tank. Plus if you've got hard water like half the country does good luck keeping those tiny passages from clogging up with scale after a couple years. Seems like people forget the "energy savings" disappear real quick when you're paying for a plumber to come flush the thing every six months.