Endless Hot Water Doesn't Mean Unlimited Hot Water

One reason homeowners are attracted to tankless systems is the idea of “endless hot water.”

That's true—with an important qualification.

A properly sized tankless unit can continue producing hot water for as long as it is needed, but it still has a maximum flow rate.

If several showers and fixtures are demanding hot water simultaneously, the unit has to be sized to handle that demand and the temperature rise required.

So the right question isn't simply, “Do you want endless hot water?”

The better question is, “How does your family actually use hot water?”

Sometimes a Conventional Water Heater Is the Better Value

For many households, a properly sized conventional water heater can provide all the hot water the family needs at a lower initial cost.

If that's the case, spending considerably more on a tankless system may not provide enough benefit to justify the upgrade.

There are other households where tankless makes much more sense. A family that routinely has several people taking long showers back-to-back may place much more value on the ability to continuously produce hot water.

Available fuel source, number of bathrooms, simultaneous demand, installation location and expected usage all matter.

That's why I don't like automatically labeling one system as “better.”