[VAC] Re: advantages of tankless

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jill,
 I highly question just how much $$$ a tankless heater would save over a
conventional outfit. They don't have the heat loss of the large tank,
radiating the heat while sitting, but I contend that that's not all that
large anyway. Two other points in favor of conventional over tankless
water heaters are Initial Cost and Repairs. They're usually much more
expensive to buy than a regular water heater and they usually have some
sort of controls that are more complex (read: likely to break) than the
conventional heater.

I can't argue with the space requirment comparison, but few people live
in a 600 square foot house; they're not even legal in this area, I think
1200 square feet is the minimum. Anything less than that must be
demolished or expanded when it changes hands.

For most folks, they won't save enough in propane to be worth the effort
to install them in an RV. FWIW: I can shower about as long as I want
with the 6-gallon heater that's in our trailer. Admittedly, I shut the
water off when possible, and the shower head is somewhat "low flow".
There's only 2 of us, and we leave enough time between our showers for
the heater to recover (about a half-hour), so we have no problems
running out of hot water.

                                <<Jim>>