Electric water heaters used to come preset on 155°F.
(I installed about one a week on average for 18 years)

Now due to safety and liability concerns they come much lower. I've seen as low as 110°. That ain't hot water IMO, I call that warm water.

No small kids (or elderly) in my house so I set mine on ~145° and it makes a big difference on how much usable hot water you get. (less hot and more cold used per minute in the shower)

Now if you have small children you must be careful not to over do it... but you should at least check to see what yours is set on. Also make sure you have water saving shower heads on all the showers... even yours if you can stand it .

Catch the shower output at full flow in a bucket to determine Gallons per minute.

Also make sure your heater is working properly. If the bottom unit goes out you only effectively have a 25 gallon heater... I've seen that happen a lot.

As a builder I would agree that $10k is outrageous!
In our larger homes we typically installtwo units; one near the master bedroom and one near the kitchen which is usually on the other side of the house.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

In our larger homes we typically installtwo units; one near the master bedroom and one near the kitchen which is usually on the other side of the house.

Yep, this the way I am set up. Couldn't be happier.

quote:

Originally posted by BigWhup:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

In our larger homes we typically installtwo units; one near the master bedroom and one near the kitchen which is usually on the other side of the house.

Yep, this the way I am set up. Couldn't be happier.

Ditto here.



.

It was 20k for 2 in series. I asked the guy if I looked like a fucking Democrat, CAS use I must be an idiot. Gas line is close by an has about 12 feet to vent to exterior wall. I don’t know if I can do two electric hot water heaters in the space I have. Keep suggestions or thoughts coming though.

My experience is that typical plumbers/HVAC shops don't want to mess with these, thus the silly high prices to do so. I've gone down this road twice and gotten the run-around. In the end, we just replaced with a normal gas HE tank style because we needed to get it done and Lowe's owed us due to other screw ups with some special ordered doors.

Call a rinnea dealer

We installed a Navien NPE-240A heater a little over 4 years ago and have been nothing but happy with it. Family of 5, 3 kids ages 9-13. Never a lack of hot water

It was a little under $3k installed. That included about 10' of new gas line(It is 1/2" capable) and about 35' of 2" sch 40 venting.

One thing I'm not sure has been mentioned is if you have hard water or high mineral/iron content you'll probably want to install a filter and softner ahead of the unit. Lots of small passages in the heat exchangers.

FYI If you are considering electric tankless you are probably going to need some serious current. I have two and they use about 80 amps each.

I plan on switching to gas as soon as I get a propane tank.

quote:

Originally posted by 1flynDO:
Gas line is close by an has about 12 feet to vent to exterior wall.

On demand gas water heaters have a pretty high BTU rating. The existing gas line may accommodate another fixture at 50k but not 150k. It would be unusual to have a full-size gas header, like 1" or 1¼" in a home with an electric water heater. Is the gas line supplying a propane fireplace?

A better-grade high efficiency power vent WH is about $1,500, gas and electric may be a grand, and the WH install and venting another grand. That is $3,500, and on the higher side unless permitting is outrageous and/or your job requires a complete repipe of the gas and/or venting is not as simple as it seems due to code.

I like a tank full of water and a gas WH which requires no electricity. Ice can take down the power lines for three days or three weeks but I'll still have a hot shower after grilling out back.

The guy doesn't want to do the job.

Call someone who does and you'll get a reasonable quote.

I have never done one. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to. Room right next to it is my sons don’t want to screw up the exhaust.

What part of the country are you in? One of my best friends is a master plumber (owns his own business) and says its crazy how other plumbers in the area rip people off.

Around my area, a lot of plumbers charge $5K for a job that should really cost $2.5K and that's with a nice profit built in.

All I can suggest is keep getting quotes. Look for smaller plumbing outfits and not the big name chain guys.

We had a Rheem tankless 199k btu installed on the exterior of our house last year. Plumber wanted 4,500, electrician wanted $2500. I let the electrician do it. He had a plumber working with him that handled the propane line install. The propane line was only about 30 feet long from the manifold to the heater.

We love the endless hot water, plus we recovered an indoor closet where the electric water heater had resided.

If I ever go tankless, I plan to install the outdoor version. Right next to the gas meter. Right next to the outdoor faucet line. Run the hot water from the heater back under the house to where the garage heater used to be, but along the way tee off to the kitchen sink and 1/2 bath sink. Then, connect to the line that goes upstairs.

I figure that gas supply line and exhaust vent ducts are so expensive that installing outdoors will decrease the cost to where I can afford it.

I imagine that a tankless will increase home value when I sell in a couple of years.

Installed this myself about 8 years ago, under 2K.
Top shelf IMO, never an issue period.
This thing rocks!!!

quote:

Originally posted by 1flynDO:
First off. Thanks in advance.

We have a home with 4.5 baths. 5 Kids. Electric hot water heater 50 gal tank. Wife is tired of cold showers. Got a bid for 10k gas tankless. My question is how reasonable is this estimate? Want the largest and best one I can get. Thanks for advice and suggestions in advance.

Went from 2-50 gallon gas heaters to a tankless a year ago. It was something like $2500 installed by them. Very happy with it. 10 K seems really high to me but ours was a pretty easy install.

sounds lie the OP needs to do something... my only concern is with all those folks in the house I really doubt there will be much savings in the end regardless of whether the new tankless is gas or electric... reason is at least with gas you are looking at a unit that probably is over 200,000 btus when running and understand the problem with tankless... once it gets going you don't run out of hot water and so can stay in the shower for a Looooong time. Also, if going gas make sure it has the ability to work if the power goes out.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
If I ever go tankless, I plan to install the outdoor version. Right next to the gas meter. Right next to the outdoor faucet line. Run the hot water from the heater back under the house to where the garage heater used to be, but along the way tee off to the kitchen sink and 1/2 bath sink. Then, connect to the line that goes upstairs.

I figure that gas supply line and exhaust vent ducts are so expensive that installing outdoors will decrease the cost to where I can afford it.

I imagine that a tankless will increase home value when I sell in a couple of years.

Yeah, with the Rinnae outdoor version, you don't have to attach any vent to it at all, just run the gas line and water lines. I'm not sure if it needs a small electric line also. I manage a very expensive house that has had a Rinnae for 5 years and it's been trouble free. But then for some reason the previous owner installed an electric pool heater......go figure.

When our water heater went out we switched over to tankless. Absolutely love it. As stated, the guy who quoted doesn’t want the job. Find someone who does.