What do you know about the tankless water heaters?

Great, been using one for years. But they are expensive.

BUT, make sure you calculate your flow needs. For example the ones I see in my local BORG that sell for about $500 dollars can only handle TWO fixtures at at time. A shower and an sink for example. If another tap is opened hot water flow decreases dramatically.

The flow rate of the water is controlled by the unit, not necessarily the diameter of the piping. If your source water is very cold the "computer" in the unit slows down the flow rate so that it can acheive the desired output temperature. When determining which size unit to purchase look at the graphs, not just the bare specs.

Some units come with "remote" controls, others call them "add ons" at extra cost.

One last bit of info. Most tank water heaters use a 3" vent. Most tankless use 4" vent, AND indicate that the vent should dedicated, that is, not joined to the vent from other appiances.

I am currently using a Noritz 6.4 gallon per minute unit (cost about $1000). This is supposed to be able to support three fixtures, i.e. two showers and one other tap. Since we only have three people in the house we have never run into the problems we had with the old unit that would support only one hot water tap at a time. We conciously do not run the diswasher or clothes washer while we shower, nor does someone try to fill the bath tub while the shower is running.

BUT I can shower for hours if I want to and never run out of hot water!

I have installed a few and the customers seem to like them. The biggest complaint so far is the cost, about three times that of a tank system. We are told that the U:S and south of the boarder are about the last countries to not have mandated the change over to tankless.

We recently moved into a home with a tankless water heater. The former owners raved about it, but my husband is ready to throw it out. I'm not sure our problem is the heater. Whenever we take a shower, the water temperature keeps changing....very hot, then completely cold; readjust to get it warmer, then very hot, again followed by cold (without changing the temperature). This occurs all throughout the shower and doesn't matter if it's a short or long shower. Is this a problem with the tank? I thought it might be the mixer valve.

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I currently have a tankless water heater now reaching 1 year. very energy efficient but their are some areas of concern. For example i had to install hardware on the faucets to regulate the water as well as the shower heads. Also the shower valve had to be replaced to be anti scalding and regulated the hot and cold temparature. Make sure this exist. If so then the take a look at the tankless heater controler board. If their is a problem their are codes which may advise of such. Call the manufacturer for extra help.