2 Families brownstone. Conventional Water Heater or Tankless Water Heater?

http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4f72e29a7938c-.png

I have seen and used bathrooms with tankless water heaters in my trips to Europe but right now I have to decide for a two families in Brooklyn. Anybody in the forum has seen/experienced how well a  tankless water heater for a traditional two families Brooklyn? Any opinion you can share? Can you compare it with a conventional 50 or 75 gallons high efficiency water heater?

brklynreno

in Plumbers and Plumbing 13 years and 3 months ago

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7 replies

Master Plvmber | 13 years and 3 months ago

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slopegirl | 13 years and 3 months ago

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check the archive. i remember reading master plumber posting an article (or link to one) about why not tankless… I think if it’s more than occasional use, it’s not better, but I may not be summarizing that right. anyway, there have been previous discussions on this. might be worth a spin through the archive for more info.

catboot | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We just had to make the same decision about a month ago. We really wanted to go with the tankless heater, but in the end the conventional kind was the one we got. If we were a single family house, I probably would have chosen the tankless kind – they are really most efficient when you don’t constantly run hot water. We ended up with a 50 gallon unit – so far so good.

brewguy | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Check with a plumber before you buy. I had hoped to install one after my wh died a couple of years ago and for some reason (which I don’t remember why) there was a code issue I couldn’t work around.

nintzk | 13 years and 3 months ago

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where do these tankless water heaters go?  The basement?  Is it one for each bathroom?

Bklnite | 13 years and 3 months ago

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75 gallons seems like overkill for a 2 family – you’d probably do fine with a 50.

jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 3 months ago

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You will need two.  Check the manuf. specs of the unit you want to buy, they will have guidelines for how many fixtures and what size to buy.