[rwest]

Hello,

I installed a tankless a few years ago, it was gas and it cut my gas use in half- from two therms to one- a therm costs a couple bucks! You will not save enough to re-coop your costs. The other drawback is the cold water lag, you have ten seconds or so of cold before hot gets to you and if you turn water on and off for shaving, you'll have a blast of cold every time you turn it back on. Mine froze up on me one winter when -17F air back drafted down the stack, several months later it burst. So now I'm back with a tank. The only real benefit I saw was being able to take as long of a hot shower as you want. Because of my experience, I've curiously read a lot of articles on them and I think that a common thread is that a tank is cheaper when everything is taken into consideration.

For installation, you will most likely need to increase the size of your gas piping to account for the massive amount needed to heat all that water. Instantaneous electric water heaters probably wouldn't be able to supply enough heat to warm up water for showers, just hand washing.

Good luck,
Rutager