I owned a Dry Cleaning plant that also laundered shirts and was replacing one of my two 100 gallion tanks each year. I switch to a tankless system set at 160* and washed shirts and laundry for 5 hours a day. My gas bill was cut in half and when I sold the plant seven years later it was still running efficiently with only two service calls in the time I owned it.

HOT TIP: NAVAL SHOWER A Navy shower is “the term used for a water-saving technique that was started in the Navy to help save precious freshwater aboard ships. The basic idea is to hop in the shower, get wet all over, turn off the water while soaping up, and then rinse clean. The small change in routine makes a huge difference: a regular shower can use as much as 60 gallons of water, while a Navy shower can check in at about 3 gallons.” (HUFF POST, 03/29/2009 05:12 am ET Updated May 25, 2011) But the hard part probably is getting a teenager to buy-in! Thanks for taking the time to create these channel's content... and thanks for sharing!

Been tankless for over 30 years. First one replaced an electric heater, had a standing pilot and no blower, so no electrical connection required. Used that for 20 years. Present one is on year 11, piezo, propane, exhaust blower, so power loss means no hot water. But we're also on a well, so power loss means no water anyway. Besides, a 10 KW generator takes care of that situation. Estimated the first one would pay for itself in 1-1/2 years; only took 9 months. Both have always run on soft water. The present unit has a remotely settable hot water outlet temperature feature so, for example, from your bathroom you can adjust the hot water outlet temp to exactly what's needed without the need to mix in cold to cool it at the shower faucet. Bingo! Your efficiency just improved. Tankless have their little quirks but no show-stoppers. I'll never have another tank.

I have this and I've had it for years it paid for itself in a year. It is absolutely fuel efficient. It's easy to flush. I love it.

Thank you for not intentional push the video over 10 min just for ad revenue. This is short and concise.

I don’t know about the US, but here in NZ, Bosch make an instantaneous HWS that uses a piezo ignition system that is charged by a small turbine driven by the incoming water movement. Bingo, ignition without the need for any supply power. Also perfect for an off-grid solution.

such great videos. i love this guy!!!! I love that you set a timer with your kids. I hope you also teach them how fortunate we are to have 5 minutes of hot clear water! it's a good thing

I have two (yes, 2) tankless water heaters in my house. They are both 95+ efficient units. One is used for DHW while the others is used to heat my underfloor radiant heat system. The one main drawback of a tankless unit for DHW is the delay in getting hot water to the faucet. My unit has an internal pump that would push the water through the system to keep the hot in the pipes. But then it has to run the burner when it does it. To counteract this you need to plumb a return line back the the unit from your furthest faucet otherwise it forces the hot water into the cold water pipes. As for the one i use to heat my floors, it works great. When there is a call for heat, the pumps turn on and cycle the water through the burner. As the water heats up the unit sensed this and modulates the burner to heat the incoming water to the correct heat. When my tankless unit runs, I have watched the incoming water rise quickly from 70* to close to 110* and the unit is set for an outflow of 120* water. so it goes from a 50* heat rise to a 10* heat rise. And that is where the tankless unit shines. I have gone out to look at the gas meter and watch the flow of gas drop dramatically (the meter spins much slower as the demand for gas drops.) My gas bill from Xcel is much lower than others. The January bill where we had multiple days below 0*F was a little over $240 for my 2800 sqft house.

We built a new house in 1991 with two 75 gallon natural gas water heaters. Had 7 kids at the time, the orginal water heaters only lasted 7 years. Replaced with 1 tank less we never paid more than 1/3 the cost of the previous system. I service the system 1 a year even though we have a soft water system in the house. Our tank less is 19 years old still working.

I installed a timed light switch for the bathroom. You got thirty minutes to do your thing in the light. Mainly it was to keep the electric bill lower. Had 400 watts of lighting in there and three teenage daughters. Not one could turn off a light when exiting. Those were interesting years💜

wow, thank you for this, i was considering switching, but i live remote, have frequent brown outs, have 4 boys, and am super glad i watched this!!!

Thanks for the advice Matt..! I live here in San Antonio and lost my tankless during the freeze in February. I have since learned to winterize by either keeping a small amount of hot running from a faucet or turn the heater off and manual drain it.

I have 2 tankless, one for hot water and the other heats my house using radiant floor heat, had them for the last 7 years, works fantastic, heats a 2500 sqft house in Missouri for about $60 bucks a month in the coldest part of the winter. Would never ever go back to a tank heater or " traditional" house heat. Gutted the old central air/heat pump and installed minisplit AC systems, dropped my cooling cost by over $100 a month and keeps the house much cooler than before.

Love to see this. Would also love a build show on ducted heat pumps vs mini splits!!

When my water tank quit back in 2006 I replaced it with a Bosch Tankless gas unit WITH a standing pilot. The home center was selling them for the same price as a 50 gallon tank unit at that time (I think someone made a mistake, I asked if that was the true price and they said it was so I jumped on it!). I have been extremely happy with my tankless Water heater.

I love ours. Endless hot water is delivered to all points of our 1800 sq. ft. ranch. We can run two showers, a dishwasher and fill up a tub all at the same time. It only cost us a couple of hundred bucks to install by ourselves, and honestly with the $300 federal tax rebate it was cheaper than the conventional power vented 50 gallon tank we would have replaced it with.

We have one and absolutely love it. Everything you're saying is bang on to the T. I know it's time for a full system clean out when the water pressure goes down..

I recently (~24 mos. ago) replaced my tank water heater with a tankless. I save about $100 to $120 a year on my natural gas bill and never running out of hot water is a big plus. The space saving is a big deal too. My unit is mounted inside the house here in the southern mountains around Asheville. The unit has to be vented, so it's mounted on an exterior wall making the vent short and direct. Your "How to flush the unit" video was a big help too, Matt. Thanks for that. I should jump on that job right away.

The thought of endless hot water was not even a part of my decision, but turned out to be an awesome feature. We ran a hot water line to the outside of our house for washing the car, the dog or whatever. The 4th thing you did not mention was PRICE! Where I live in British Columbia Canada a hot water tank is $1000, on demand system is $500

It's mind boggling as a Canadian to see this outside haha

As a plumber I recommend to everyone to flush at least every 12 months. It will change the longevity by 10x for the units if you buy a quality unit

Just had my traditional water heater break down on me and spill water between the hardwoods and subfloor. I replaced with a tankless, outdoor unit and it's been nice so far.

Moved into a place that had one of these tankless. Me and my wife really like it. I did the math and the savings on the gas bill cover the maintenance costs. For us since the yearly cost is about the same it's about the convenience. The key is maintenance. I've heard of people getting 20 years out of these when they do the maintenance.

Installing these things is truly a Tankless job

I just replaced my 30-gallon with an electric Rheem 3.5 gpm point of use for my small 1-bath house. The unit was

I have Naiven dual boiler for domestic hot water and for the radiant heating system in the house. Now going into my third winter season with the system. You have summarized the advantages of such a system, so I won't repeat. It has been completely reliable so far and highly efficient. My fuel source is propane, with a future availability of natural gas in my neighborhood. We recently went through 75 hours of no electrical power due to a wind storm. I am fortunate to have a permanently installed auxiliary generator. No issues in supplying electrical power to the boiler's controls. My water is soft, so mineral buildup in the pipes is not apparent. Just today I bought vinegar to use in flushing the boiler jackets. I have seen videos for maintaining my boiler, which I will do very soon, early in the Fall season. Doesn't seem like much of a charge and well within the capabilities of a DIYer. Bottom line, I am completely satisfied in the choice I made for heating my home in a northern climate and for endless hot water (no teenagers at home).

My unit only uses 5watts of power to run. I use an igloo power pack to fire it up during brown outs. Thanks to your videos I have been cleaning my units for several years. The cleaning is easy. Doing it yourself saves money and you do not have to schedule someone to service on their time. I would like to see a better error code description from the manufacture. A plug removal tool would be nice. Thinking of 3D printing one. I love the units had one put in my old home and have one in my new build. Thanks for your how to videos.

Also, I have used tankless a lot in office buildings. I recommend the installation of a cheap in line filter, and change the filter once a year as routine maintenance. They work great, really save energy costs, tenants love them and if you ever need to change one out they are as easy as unplugging them and removing two water connections. Then reconnect and plug back in. We used conventional electric range plugs. The only change out we ever had was for a failure of a heating element (which was under warranty and they just sent a whole new unit).

we have a gas tankless, but installed a 3 gallon electric mini-heater under the kitchen sink. instant hot where needed, endless hot everywhere.

I cant imagine wanting to place this unit outside ( of course I'm from the north), I cant believe the humidity, rain, and exposure to vandalism and theft is worth the 5 sq ft of reclaimed space.

One thing you forgot to mention. 200k btu added load on your gas meter and your standard house meter may not be up to the task and meter upgrades or in the worst case a service line or house fuel line could be extremely costly.

after installing my tankless water heater (in the basement) about 3 years ago, my gas bill has dropped by half, and no problems. I had a guy who knows a lot about plumbling also install an inline whole-house water filter which then directs water service to my house and TWH. the filtration of the hard water should extend the life of the unit.

Installed a tankless last year and liking it. Spent $6.50 on gas last month with normal usage for my wife and I. Cost savings is definitely there for us. Pro-tip for the kids, go to the tankless and press the power 5 minutes into their shower. Instant cold water just as fast as instant hot water.

I recently installed a ScaleBlaster to help keep my 99% efficient tank-less hot-water heater from scaling. I love my tank-less system! After 22+ years of a gas 40 gallon unit in a previous house, this one is awesome!

Learned something new, thanks for these tips!

such a great and simple explanation of the pros and cons. Thank you.

What? Literally, the guy that installed mine told me all 3 of those things first. And I absolutely saved money as soon as mine was installed. And they sell small battery back ups

As a plumber in CO one more thing I tell my customers looking to install a tankless is that our cold ground water will dramatically affect it's performance. The GPM listed for the units is for optimal conditions. Our cold ground water, especially in the winter will reduce the GPM of the unit. I've had one of customers that would be taking a shower and someone would turn on the kitchen which would over load the unit and it would shut off. The only fix for this is to turn down the temperature on the unit which the customer was not happy with, they like hot showers. It will also slow down the water going through the unit in order to heat the water which will result in lower perceived pressure.

After my father-in-law built his house he started having problems with his tankless heater. It took awhile to discover that the source of the problems was particulates in the water coming from the new well. After a filter was installed between the two, the problems ceased.

Thank you for answering that question. I take comfort in knowing I can have a hot beverage when the power is knocked out until it’s restored with the traditional water tank. The maintenance flushing bill takes away the “savings”.

I’ve been a plumber here in Sydney Australia for about 30yrs and also because we have very good water quality tankless has been the way to go, Maintanance free, energy efficient and neat tidy space saving installation, having said that I still have a storage tank system, only because it came with the house we bought, made from stainless steel 30 years and counting If it’s not broken why fix it😀 Every situation is different your local plumber knows best,..... if they’re good he/she will share that information as part of their duty of care. Have a wonderful day

Great video, thank you! You might consider placing a direct link in the description to the "How to flush your tankless hot water heater" video.

Great video. I put a tankless in 2 years ago, have been very happy with it, and my experience bears out everything said here. I was lucky enough to to realize an energy cost savings with the tankless heater; but, mine is a family of only 2 adults, so “endless” hot water wasn’t the temptation for us that it can be for others. The fact that we’re NOT heating water when we don’t need it has been GREAT! The outdoor install was also a big plus for me. I replaced an improperly-vented, outdoor-installed conventional water heater with a properly-vented, outdoor-installed tankless heater and saved the cost of having a roofer penetrate the roof and install a roof jack. Tankless was a win-win for me.

I'm moving in 3 weeks and considering a tankless. 2 things I learned from you. My plumber was less than honest. He never told me to change the rods or drain it. Just told me the reason they let go is the rods corrode over time. I think you just helped me make up my mind on tankless in my new home since there's Brazilian Teak wood throughout and I'd be royally pissed if the tank let go and ruined that flooring.

Matt, I bet that there some days that you are thinking: "The work I do is tankless, sometimes". I feel the same way, but remain tankful, and grateful, too. Oh, and about the timer thing? I did that with my teens, but ended up just becoming a bird watcher, with only one bird that I was watching after they were done washing...

10yrs using tankless, 2 adults we've realized significant gas saving. Ours has inline screen. Easy maintenance using valve system. Also no catastrophic leaks. We also were able to remove a 2x2' chimney which provided additional space in laundry room while eliminating air leaks and temperature transfer of bricks

From my master plumber point of view, for the most part, I agree with the points brought up in this video. Personally I do not try to actively sell tankless. I do tell every customer what is mentioned in this video. I would add there is a #4 that most contractors do not tell you. These units are very sensitive to flow rate. For example you have to have “X” gallon per minute flowing through the heater for it to function properly. If you have a low flow shower head, there is a chance that that there is not enough flow on the hot side to get the heater to operate as designed. Remember, your mixing hot and cold in your faucet. Let’s say I can measure 4 GPM coming out of the shower head, that means in theory that I have 2GPM on the hot line and 2GPM on the cold line. That 2GPM is not enough for the tankless to operate correctly. *the 2GPM is just a made up number I used to make my point, consult the tankless manufacturers manual for the real numbers.

FYI. Lived in Spain for several years, experienced the tankless water heater. No electricity is required for operation, well, some is :) Through a "D" sized battery, can you believe that? They had an insert for a "D" size battery just for the igniter.....incredible. It wasn't a standby system for when the power goes out, it was the main source.

Hi Matt, Jim in Japan and I mentioned before, every house in Japan has one or more of these heaters and nobody ever has them serviced. They last 15-20 years then they replace them. I am sure water in Japan is quite hard, very hard in many places. I have never seen any scale on faucet filters etc. However, I am asking my wife to get one of ours serviced, it still works but I believe it needs a tune up. I will get back to you how that goes.

That looks absolutely hideous how they ran that gas line

More disadvantages to the tankless in my bathroom: It shuts off for low flows. So I have to fill a plastic container of warm water in the sink in order to shave (wash face and clear whisker cuttings from the razor in warm water instead of a ultra-frigid stream of cold water), which is a throwback to the old days. I also have to run more volume of water for a shower than I need because of the it-shuts-off-for-low-flows problem. I am on an old septic system that is just about shot and it doesn't need extra water going into it. I'm disabled, so it takes me longer to wash hair, then change positions to switch to washing upper body, then lower, then feet etc. So, I can't turn it off in the middle of any of those stages in order to change positions etc. because when I turn the water back on, the hot water line from the tankless has cooled off and that makes me have to keep adjusting the hot and cold control. I had no such problems with the hot water tank because I could just leave the water at a low flow level.

This is an excellent video. When we built new 18 years ago, we installed a tankless water heater and I'm glad we did. There's another thing to consider. Tankless output is measured in degrees rise. Down here in the south, our water supply never gets cold, but I'm thinking if you have really cold input water in the winter, your flow might not be very strong, since it slows flow to help raise the output temp when needed. We were on well water the first 10 years we were on well water and even with a soft water system I was flushing the water heater every 4-6 months. Now we have great county water and I only flush every 12 months. We have a 12 foot daylight basement with two utility rooms so our tankless is mounted inside. I agree, don't buy expecting to see significant savings. Buy it for the extra hot water. My wife and I have to leave for work at the same time and there's no worry about using up all the hot water. There is another plus, though. When properly maintained, the tankless will last at least twice as long as a conventional water heater.

As an hvac and plumbing professional who's installed a tankless i have most definitely saved money on my gas bill.

Get the stainless burner! Low maintenance with a whole house water filter. Highly recommended!!

Unplug the tankless heater when that teenager is taking that hour long shower. I bet they get out pretty quick haha

Hey Matt, do you know if it is possible to mount a tankless propane water heater in a horizontal orientation? Any specific products that will allow you to do this?

Had one for two years, love it. Our gas bill last month was $28, big deal.

5 min showers? You monster!

I've had a tankless for about 4 years now. It is a lifestyle adjustment, so it's not for everyone, but I prefer it. One thing to note is that these generally are installed on a wall or outside, rather than central where typically a water heater would be. This adds pipe length so it does take longer for hot water to reach faucets/showers. Mine is a Rinnai & has a built-in pump, which I manually turn on before showering. Takes ~45sec for hot water to reach kitchen faucet or shower. That way, when you open these, you have minimal cold water waste. Note that you have to install the recirculating valve at the farthest fixture for the pump to be effective. Other than that, I love the fact that the unit is essentially off when I don't need hot water, so it's great for people who aren't home much. I live alone, so utility bill was never much of an issue. I noticed a slight dip but I didn't do it for the money and will never recoup the total cost, but that's ok.

Thanks for the tips: One thing about "power outage"...these things use almost NO electricity...IIRC, about 1/2 watt for the motherboard. A 12v battery connected to a small sinewave inverter instantly solves that problem. We had no power for some weeks, but plenty hot water!

Make sure the unit you choose has sufficient delivery volume! My camping version is so slow that by the time your hot epsom salt bath filled up, it would have likely cooled too much. To get the max temp you must slow the flow to the minimum, and to get the maximum flow, you must sacrifice maximum temp. What you want to compare, is max temp at the unit's max flow rate.

That tile job around the mixer is diabolical.

For me, the cost savings have been very real and very nice. On the other hand, the long lag time to get hot water to the kitchen faucet, and especially the washing machine, has been a real drag. Everyone must balance the pros and the cons.

FINALLY! A plumber who isn't stuck in the old school way of thinking regarding tankless.

This kind of reminds me of the old “Risinger Goes Rogue“ episodes!

5 minute shower? The kids? Maybe. The wife? She would say "sure, honey" and then kill me in my sleep that night.

Great video, great information. Keep up the good work!

1. As for my tankless it needs no outside electric for the pilot, it starts with D cell batteries as soon as you turn on the water. It does take a few minutes for the hot water to get to you, but so does the water from a tank. Ok, it is a portable unit but I use it full time in my RV. 2 Since it is being used in an RV I don't worry about it saving me a lot of money on my energy bill. Besides it runs on propane and I use 20# bottles. I will be going to a 40# bottle soon. 3 Never done any maintenance on mine. Maybe I need to? Having said all that I have to say if I was using a full house unit I would need to know all the info you gave in your video. Thanks for putting it online.

I've always felt kind of "meh" about tankless. I'll tell you my favorite hot-water setup though. It was in a place I lived in Utah. It was a drainback- type solar thermal unit in series with a heat-pump unit. Never ran out of hot water (even in the winter), and it was super cheap to run too.

I'm 52, and when I was a kid growing up in Argentina more than four decades ago, most houses had tankless heaters that required no power, just water and gas; and they were cheaper than tank heaters. Sometimes "progress" is not really "progress".

Growing up, my buddy would would wake up an hour before he actually needed to wake up so he could get in the shower, lay down (in the shower), and fall back asleep (in the shower with the hot water running).

My 80 gallon hot water heater just went out about a week ago and I replaced it with an electric tankless hot water heater and I love it way more than a tank water heater for the fact of endless hot water when I shower. Definitely recommend tankless.

Thieves love outside appliances! Change my mind. Signed, Florida.

I've had tankless for nearly 15 years and couldn't love it more especially when I had teenagers at home. Mine has a pilot so I have had hot water during extended (ice storm) power failures. There is nothing nicer than a hot shower when the rest of the house is freezing.

I had a Bosch Aquastar installed in my home just over 20 years ago. It has worked flawlessly, and I have not experienced any of the problems described by others here. With respect to operation, two things: I adjust the temperature during the course of the year depending on the temperature of water coming into the house. During warm summer months I adjust it down, during cold winter adjust it up. Second, I adjust the heater so that the hot water temperature at the tap is that for a good hot shower without mixing in any cold water. You should not run these like a tank where you have a high temp (within code) in the tank that is mixed with cold water at the tap! For the kitchen I have a small undersink tankless heater just for that sink. That way I get essentially instant hot water and the temperature is set higher for cleaning.

quick question, what type of house would a tankless be best for? meaning trailer/mobile home vs a stone/wood built house just curious

Happy to get this info, I always wondered what the draw backs were to tankless water heater, but doesn't really seem like much.

The 4th thing...Plug it into a surge protector, I lost 2 computer boards on 2 different units.

I had a tankless that also supported my radiator heating. I wish I will have it in the next apartment. Brilliant

Im really glad you mentioned the power first thing!

re: point #3, that depends on where you're at. In Ottawa, Canada where I'm at, after 3 years of service in our house we had it flushed out and literally nothing came out of it. It was as clean as the day we bought it. So this is really a function of your water source. If you're getting a lot of scale you likely need a water softener first.

People who already have one or are thinking about getting one...yeah that pretty much covers everyone.

How about Rinnai tnk systems that stop making hot water during a freeze?

Here in the Netherlands I've never had a tank in my lifetime. Having a limited hot water supply is so odd. However over here we also use hot water radiators for heating our homes.

this should be in the plumbing playlist

Using smart home tech and a wifi connected shower, you can program it to start turning the hot down after a certain time. Except for the master bath!!😃

Me as a service plumber don’t sell these on efficiency. I sell them to people with huge families, big soaker tubs, or to those that like those long showers.

This is very helpful. Thank you sir.

I've been building a room addition to the house in the basement and most days I just don't want to get back at it. Watching your vids though, I swear- EVERY TIME I WATCH, I get inspired to get my butt back in there lol. Love the content and, especially recently, I appreciate it!

I have had a tankless for many tears and I love it.

I had one installed in my house in Michigan. The installation went perfect but I lost water pressure because the water coming out of the ground was too cold and the unit could not make Hot water best enough. I wish I could have one but I can’t. Thanks for the video

Any guesses as to why my water pressure drops after the initial burst when descaling? Does it matter whether you hook input hose to cold or hot? Thanks.

20 minutes into his shower we harped at our kid to get out. "But I haven't washed yet!" was his reply.

"Why don't we have hot water?" "Because we mounted the tank outside and now its gone."

I had my 50G propane hot water slug replaced in 2004. My home is 3BR 2.5 bath. I installed 3 Renai Propane heaters on each full bath and 1 for the kitchen and split to the 1/2 bath. Hot water in 33 seconds and during the holiday's hot water forever. No power, no problem I have a Generac 15KW standby generator. I am also on a deepwater well which is also in the Generac.

My trepidation with going tankless is whether these can handle cold water temps in Minnesota winters. I’ve read that tankless can’t handle below 55F temps. Mine would be installed indoors (basement). Would it make sense to do a setup where the conventional water heater feeds lukewarm water to the tankless?

I tell all my customers about those cons and all the pros. Really, a flex line outside? Hard pipe baby☝️

I installed, plumbed and did the electrical on my tankless at our lake house. I wish I could show you the install pictures, it came out beautiful! (I did work at Lockheed Skunk 🦨 Works as a structural installer and fuel system technician.) I do the flush once a year. Gas bill has been $6 a month on the low in the summer and $28 on the high in the winter. It is just my wife and I and we just love our tankless! When the hot water heater goes out in our city house, I will be installing TANKLESS!

That was very helpful Matt. Thank you so much for your time and making this video. After watching this, I don't believe tankless water heaters for me.

What’s the best electrical tankless for the south Florida weather & can it be installed on the outside somewhere to save on even more space that will cover 2 - 3 bathrooms, kitchen & laundry room ? I already have one for the other 2 bathrooms of the house.. Thanks 👍🏻