Plumbers?

[mike31154]

My folks have had a tankless on demand heater for about 3-4 years now & they really like it. No maintenance yet & no plumbing/gas line upgrade required. They're in a mobile home park in the South Okanagan, so milder weather than most places in the country. They reported a noticeable savings in the gas bill after the install. As mentioned, the unit must be properly sized. For a larger family and locations with low incoming water temperature, you might need a fairly large unit, or gang two together. They've come a long way in the last few years with this technology and depending on how much you wish to spend for options, you can go as far as having individual temperature controls at different faucets in the house. Some systems allow you to set a priority as well, so if you're having a shower & someone decides to run hot water elsewhere, you don't get a surprise. Pretty much all of them come with at least one control unit allowing you to set the water temperature without having to run into the basement or wherever your tank is located.

With respect to the maintenance issue, most of the components are repairable/replaceable, even if not as DIY. Conventional tanks have a certain life expectancy & only a few components are repairable. After that they go to the landfill. My tank is living on borrowed time & I'm fairly certain I'll be switching to on demand when the time comes. Most provinces and/or the Feds offer incentives to install the newer tankless systems.