OT: Tankless water heaters

[CNY rider]

Anyone who can share experience with tankless propane water heaters?

We currently have an oil fired burner and boiler, with a hot water tank.
The tank is over 10 years old, the furnace needs repairs, and I just happen at the same time to be majorly fed up with my oil/furnace company right now. Oil free seems very appealing.

Thinking about a big jump to a propane tankless system.
We currently have a small propane storage tank and it is used only for cooking.
We have 2 adults and 3 young children so I am thinking we might need 2 units; maybe one for our main bathroom and another for the kitchen.

We mainly heat in the winter with pellets but the boiler does get used to heat the baseboards as well.

There's plenty of room in our basement for the units.
Is this something realistically worth pursuing?

Thanks.

[CaptStash]

We have a tankless heater that runs on natural gas, so basically the same as what you are proposing. You will need a bigger propane tank I suspect. The tankless heater is great and you never ever run out of hot water. There is also no energy used keeping the water hot as it is an "on demand system".

The negatives are that you can't use a recirculating line for instant hot water, and it takes a little longer for the hot water to get to the spigot. It also has a limited output, so you may have to do two as you have suggested. I would ask a good plumber or plumbing supply house. The manufacturers' websites are also very good for determining size and number of units. We can comfortably run two showers on ours, but when my wife opens up the big spigot on her soaking tub, that's it, she takes all the water and I don't even get enough (hot water) to do the dishes (and we have great water pressure).

By the way, there is an interesting option for getting around the return line issue. If you install a small, under the counter type, electric hot water heater in line with the tankless heater, and run the recirc return line to the electric tank, you can recirc and have instant hot water without losing the warranty on the tankless heater.

[edl]

We have two tankless water heaters made by Rinnai for our house (single story, 3400SF, 4.5 baths). Plumbing is basically split evenly so each water heater is handling 2-2.5 baths and sinks.

Like CaptStash said, as long as your system is properly sized you will virtually never run out of hot water. Less physical plumbing is better as always, since the water heater will need to clear all the cold water out of the line. You can alternatively run an under the counter type of water heater to keep everything hot. But in our house I get hot water in the shower within 45 seconds, so that's fast in my mind.

The tankless water heaters are highly efficent and reliable. They do produce a bit of water as a byproduct, so if you place them in your basement you'll need a sump pump to get that water out of there if you have no other means to drain your basement. It's not a big deal, a $50 pump will do the job.