Hey guys, I am Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, the Expert Plumber coming to you this
morning to talk to you about: how much more expensive are tankless water
heaters than traditional water heaters, and this is really a good question
because this is one we get often asked. People want to know, you know, they're
wanting to change out their tank type water heater and they come in with this
idea: hey I don't want to go tankless and they get their mind made up before
they even know how much it is, before they even know if it's feasible to do in
their installation in their house. You know, cost of tankless water heaters are
probably on the very cheapest end that you can go is like eight hundred dollars -
seven, eight hundred dollars for a very low cost tankless water heater. The high
end is over a couple grand and you know, you can buy a great tankless water
heater. What you're really looking for is volume: how many gallons per
minute and you also need to know at what delta you're gonna get it: how many
gallons a minute. Meaning you're going to take your water temperature that comes
in determine what you want your water temperature set at when it comes out and
look at your GPMs then. Then look at what your maximum possible flow rate is. How
many showerheads, your dishwasher, your washing machine, your anything at all
that can use hot water. If you've got a steam shower. Anything that runs hot
water you want to make sure that you're looking at it and in figuring out that
calculation and like a showerhead, a lavatory faucet, you normally don't run
those full hot unless you're shaving, but a showerhead: take your gallon per minute
flow rate on your showerhead multiply by 0.75, that is about how many gallons a
minute of hot water you're going to be using.
So on a tankless water heater your cost is about $800 to over a couple of grand
for the water heater only, okay? That's the purchase price. Where a tank-type
water heater, you know, we can buy those anywhere from three hundred and fifty
and I mean I've seen those over twenty five hundred, so it depends on what water
heater you're getting, what quality water heater you're getting. All tankless water
heaters aren't made the same, you've got really cheap ones that have a very low
flow rate you've got very expensive ones that have
a high flow rate. The things that you have to look at for a tankless water
heaters: number one, you want to go for a professional installation. Do not let a
handyman, a contractor, your next-door neighbors boyfriend, you know, anybody
like that. Guys, tankless water heaters take a lot of thought process behind it.
If you've got gas, you've got to look at building a stand, building a frame,
building some way to mount this thing and support this thing where you're not
going to have any problems with it. Then you've got to look at the gas. You've got
to do a gas load calculation chart because you're now going from - say you
put this tankless water heater in the same spot your tank water heater was but
now you're going from a tank-type water heater, a 50 gallon is 40 to 50,000 BTUs
actually about 35,000 - 38,000 to 50,000 BTUs for either a 40
or 50 now you're going up to a 199,000 BTU
water heater. Guys, the difference there is a ton of gas. Now the what makes it worth
it is to do a tankless water heater you are your only heating the water as you
use it. There's not a big tank reservoir there filled with hot water all day
long waiting for you and that's where you save money. You spend a lot more gas
heating it at that time because it takes a ton of gas to heat that water just
instantly like that, but you're only doing at you know a few times a day.
So you need to make sure you do a gas load calculation chart make sure your
plumber, your professional installer knows how to do that. The other thing is
the vent. Vents are different on a tankless water heater. I've literally
walked in and seen where somebody had a friend of a friend of a friend install a
tankless water heater from and they literally just hooked up the the vent
from the old water heater over to it and I think they kind of hung it right where
it was and guys that that's not the right way to do it. It's not going to
function properly. You're gonna void your warranty there.
There's a lot of different things there. Now a retrofit installation is kind of
harder, so you know that's where you want to make sure you've got a trained,
insured, licensed plumbing professional to do this. Electric is a little bit
different but it still it's a big retrofit problem. You have got a lot more
electricity going to this and you need to make sure that you look at this, you
discuss this with a good, licensed electrician before you do the install
because it's going to cost you money. Now the other things that can cost you money on
a tankless water heater, you know, the gas it is the biggest deal, the stand
the installations the biggest deal, you may have to increase the size of your
gas line. Aou are definitely going to have to increase the power to get there
for an electric one and for a gas one you're also going to have to add an
electrical outlet at your tankless water heater because it does have electronic
controls to it. So guys, there's a lot of different things to look at. Are tankless
water heaters still worth it? Yeah if you've got a good installation area it's
a possibility. How expensive can they be? Guys, tankless water heaters are - if you
do a retrofit you're probably looking at anywhere from $3,500 to $4,500 on the cheapest end,
up to 9, 10, 11, 12 grand on the most expensive end. We've done houses that we
had to come to a complete gas relay yard service to get enough gas there for them.
They had to call the gas company to get a larger meter to make sure they had
more flow. So guys there's a lot of different things and a lot of different
ways to do it, the one thing I will tell you and I tell
you over and over again guys, please use the trained professional. A trained
professional is going to do it right, especially when it comes to gas. You're
not going to have any problems and you're not going to have anything to
worry about about the safety of your family. Guys, I hope you're enjoying these
videos. If you are please click on the subscribe button, if you've got comments
or you've got questions or there's anything you'd like to know about please
leave us comments. Click on the subscribe button, leave us comments, ring the bell.
Guys, we want to be your plumber adviser. So give us a shout, let us know what you
think and if there's anything at all that we can do for you.
My name is Roger Wakefield with Texas Green Plumbing. I hope you're enjoying
this and at Texas Green Plumbing we're
saving you money one drop at a time.