What is the Downside of a Tankless Water Heater?

In the long run, if you want a long-term cost-saving option with a limitless supply of hot water, there’s nothing better than a tankless water heater. It can save space, last long, and have no risk of leakage, water damage, and exposure.

Hooyah! But wait? What if there’s a power outage? You get no hot water, that’s the deal! And how much time it takes to heat water? A good deal of time! So, after listening to the cons, are you still planning to buy it?

What is the downside of a tankless water heater and should you buy it? Let’s describe the cons, you’ll decide for yourself.

What is the Downside of a Tankless Water Heater?

Cons of Tankless Water Heater

Is it worth switching to a tankless water heater from the tank-styled ones? You have heard a lot about the positive sides, let’s discuss the cons now!

No Instant Hot Water

If you are installing a water heater in your house, it’s obvious that you need hot water, isn’t it? But what’s wrong with boiling water with gas? It is expensive and a lengthy process, no doubt. Well, the water heaters are faster than the other methods.

But if you compare a tankless water heater to the other tank-styled water heaters, you will see that it takes a good deal of time for the tankless heater to deliver you the heated water. The term Tankless already tells you that there are no tanks added to this facility.

The storage tank is absent here. In the case of the tank-styled heater, they store the hot water in the tanks and deliver it when you need it. But this is different for the tankless options. As these don’t have any storage facility, the hot water supply is not ready immediately.

If you use these sorts of water heaters, chances are, when you turn the hot water tap, you will not get hot water. Instead, you will see the water of room temperature running there. In short, the process isn’t instant. It might take a minute or more for the water to reach the tap from the heater.

Higher Unit and Installation Cost

Why is tankless water heater bad if they are less costly in the long run? Yes, they are less costly, but while installing, you have to pay a lot. Among the disadvantage of tankless water heaters, the higher cost of installation is major.

  • If you are settling for a tank-style water heater, these will only cost you $890 or close for the 40-50 gallons tank. The price we have mentioned here includes the installation and the requirements for the unit.
  • On the contrary, the total price along with the installation is higher if you are paying for the 50-gallon electric water heaters. You have to pay more or less $3000 if you want to buy a tankless unit and install it in your home.

Well, more than the unit itself, the installation requires a good sum of money. The tankless options are capable of handling the higher load. And this is why it requires special wiring for the installation. Along with this, you need to add a vent pipe too!

As these are comparatively new in the market, you need especially knowledgeable professionals for installing them. On the other side, the tank-styles heaters are used for a long period already now. Most of the professionals are familiar with installing this one. A lot of them know how to do it and so, the labor cost is low.

When the water includes high levels of minerals, it requires the tankless water heater to work hard. So, there’s a chance of the heater breaking down while doing it. And to safeguard this, you might need to add a water softening system. In short, the overall installation cost will increase more!

Unreliable Water Temperature

Well, this works just fine when you have a small house and you only run one or two taps. But things get complicated when you are dealing with so many taps, the tankless water heater can fall short. In the tanked water heaters, there’s a chance of running out of hot water.

In that case, tankless options are safer. But if we talk about the consistency of the water temperature, there can be changes if you run multiple taps or showers at the same time. For this, it’s necessary to learn about the flow rate.

The amount of water your tankless water heater unit can heat in a specific period (mostly measured in GPM) is called flow rate. So, can tankless water heaters keep up with demand? Evidently, they can provide unlimited hot water.

However, for this, the size of the water heater and the flow rate should be higher if you want to run so many showers and taps with the same heater in your house. Otherwise, the water temperature will be inconsistent.

Power Failure Trouble

Tankless options are great if you want to settle for a combination boiler for floor heating facility to keep the floor warm in the winter. But what to do if there’s a storm and there’s no electricity? So, a tank-styled water heater keeps hot water stored for you. No matter there’s a storm or there’s no power in your house, the water will stay hot for a few days at least.

But what’s the deal with the tankless water heater? Yes, it requires electricity to switch on and heat water. Then if there is a power outage, there’s no chance of heating the water at all! We know some will vouch for the tankless water heaters that run by gas. D

Do you know that such heaters that run with gas will require an electric control panel for the operation? This is where the tankless options lack!

If it is just for hours, you will make it up without the tankless heater. But if you have to settle for days, it’s going to be troublesome. On the other hand, if your priority is to keep the floor warm, check out the Best Electric Radiant Floor Heating options here! 

The Sandwich

No-no, we are not talking about the bread sandwich anymore! Here, the sandwich is made of hot water and cold water! A cold water sandwich is a common term in the research of tankless water heaters.

In the irregular use of hot water, you will see that an initial surge of hot water is followed by the cold water at times. And eventually, it turns into hot water once again immediately. This mostly happens in the cast of dishwashing.

If you are turning the hot water off and on more often and quickly, you can see this. Well, this isn’t a key issue when it comes to the drawbacks of a tankless water heater but we can’t afford to tell you everything we know before you buy it!

Always HOT Water

Yes, you use heaters for hot water. But what if you enjoy a little cool shower? We are talking about the lukewarm water of course.

With the tankless versions, it’s a bit troublesome to get lukewarm water. Well, you can always mix it after the heater heats it. Then again, it’s still a downside, isn’t it?

Wrap Up

We have only talked about the cons of a tankless water heater and all of them are the common problem of every house that has a tankless version. But for once, let us tell you that you cannot ignore the positive aspects of such heaters too.

With these, there is no tank exploding! Also, it saves space along with providing cost-saving benefits. Before you buy, check out the positive factors too!