Tankless Water Heaters

This conversation happens at kitchen tables all over Knox and Blount County a few times a month. The names change and the details move around, but the questions are always the same ones. So I’m just going to share.

Her water heater is about twelve years old and it’s not working. She called, we got her on the schedule, and now I’m standing in her kitchen.

So, “What am I looking at here?” she asks. Her name is Tabitha. Let’s just call her “Mrs. T.”

Mrs. T: Alright. My neighbor put in one of those tankless things and she loves it. So what am I looking at here? What’s the tankless water heater installation cost for a house like mine?

Me: Fair question, and I’ve got an idea. But can I look at a couple of things first? Because the honest answer is that your lifestyle decides most of it, and I haven’t really put my eyes on what you have now yet.

Mrs. T: Let’s go have a look. I looked online, but there are so many choices I just don’t know where to start.

Me: That sounds about right. There are tons of different sizes, shapes, colors, and of course prices.

What’s actually different about them?

Me: So what you’ve got right now is a tank. It sits there and keeps about fifty gallons hot — except for today, I add — all day, all night, whether anybody’s home or not. Three in the morning, nobody’s awake, and that thing is still working to keep water hot for a house that’s asleep too.

Mrs. T: I’ve never thought about that once in my life.

Me: Most folks haven’t. It’s not a bad design — it’s simple, it’s proven, and it’s the less expensive way to get hot water in a house. But it’s got two habits you already know about. It runs out, and eventually it wears out.

Mrs. T: Okay. What are your thoughts? Is a tankless really what I need?

Me: Let me ask you some things about your life first, and then I’ll tell you what I think.

How many people are usually in this house?

Mrs. T: Just the two of us most days.

Me: Anybody take a long shower?

Mrs. T: My husband. Twenty minutes, easy. I’ve given up.

Me: Do you run the dishwasher or a load of laundry while somebody’s in there?

Mrs. T: All the time. I never thought about whether that mattered.

Me: It matters more than the size of the house does. And how often do you have people staying over?

Mrs. T: A few times a year. My sister came through in the spring with her kids and I was the last one in the shower. That was a cold morning.

Me: That right there tells me more than anything I’ve looked at so far.

Here’s where I’d lean, and I’ll give you the other side too.

Me: For two people, most days, a good tank would serve you fine. It’s proven, it’s less to spend today, and it’d be sitting in that closet doing its job for a long time. That’s a real answer, and some folks in your exact spot pick it.

But you just told me two things. Your husband takes twenty-minute showers, and a few times a year this house fills up. A tank doesn’t care how many people are here — it holds what it holds, and when it’s gone you’re waiting on it to catch up. Tankless doesn’t have that ceiling. The fourth shower is the same as the first, and nobody’s negotiating over who goes when.

Mrs. T: So you’re saying tankless.

Me: I’m saying that for how you actually live, that’s where I’d put my money. But I want you to hear the whole thing before you agree with me.

Alright. What’s the catch?

Mrs. T: There’s always a catch.

Me: The catch is the front end. A tankless costs more to put in than a tank does. Not a little more. I’m telling you that now, standing here, with the both of us looking at what’s really going on.

Mrs. T: Okay. So why is everybody so excited about tankless water heaters?

Me: Two things, and one of them is the reason your neighbor won’t quit talking about hers.

The first one’s the obvious part. It doesn’t run out. Ever. Your husband can take his twenty minutes, you can start the dishwasher, and the water coming out is the same temperature it was when he got in. Your sister can come through with the kids, and the fourth person in that shower has the same morning the first one did.

Mrs. T: That alone might be worth it.

Me: For a lot of folks it is. But the second one is the part nobody thinks about until I say it out loud. Think about what that tank in your closet has been doing for twelve years. Fifty gallons, hot, every hour of every day. Three in the morning, house asleep, nobody’s touched a faucet since ten o’clock — and it’s still burning fuel to keep that water hot just in case somebody wants it.

Mrs. T: For nobody.

Me: For nobody. Every night for twelve years. A tankless sits ready for action and does absolutely nothing until you turn on a faucet. It only spends money in the minutes you’re actually using hot water.

Mrs. T: So I’m paying more up front and less every month after.

Me: That’s the big picture, right there. You spend more the day we put it in, and then it works on your side every month for as long as you own the house. Some people want the smaller number today. Some want the smaller number from here on out. Neither one’s wrong — it’s your checkbook and your peace of mind that really matter.

Mrs. T: My neighbor said hers will outlast the tank too.

Me: They generally do, and there’s a reason for it that’s worth knowing. A tank is one thing. When it goes, it goes, and you’re buying another one. A tankless is a box full of individual parts. When something wears out, we swap that part and the unit keeps going. It’s a different kind of machine.

So what has to change in my house?

Mrs. T: Alright, you said you wanted to look at things. What were you looking for?

Me: Three things, and these are what decide your number. Here’s what I’m seeing.

First one’s this gas line right here. See how small it is? That was sized for a tank, and a tank sips fuel slow and steady over an hour. A tankless gulps — it’s got to heat that water instantly as it goes by, so it needs more fuel and it needs it all at once. A lot of times that line has to come up a size. In older homes around here — Fountain City, Bearden, the established parts of Maryville — that’s pretty common. Some of the newer homes already have the upgrade.

Mrs. T: Do I need to find somebody else for that part?

Me: No ma’am. We take care of that ourselves, and it’s included in the estimate.

Second thing is venting. A tankless burns differently than what you’ve got now, so it needs its own path outside. Sometimes it hangs right where this tank is and that path is short and simple. Sometimes it makes more sense to move the vent, depending on which tankless you choose.

Mrs. T: And the third thing?

Me: We can free you up some space.

Mrs. T: That’s more than I pictured — and I’d love the extra space.

Me: It is more than a swap, and I’m not going to soften that. Putting in a tankless is closer to a small remodel. But it’s a one-time thing. It gets done once, correctly, and then you don’t think about it again. We’ll even maintain it for you.

Okay, but I don’t have hot water right now.

Mrs. T: Here’s my actual problem. I’ve got no hot water right now.

Me: I know it, and that’s the part we need to talk through before you decide anything else.

If we go tankless and that gas line needs work, that’s most likely a full day. If we put a good tank back in, that’s a much shorter day. Either way, you’re taking a hot shower tonight.

Mrs. T: So the thing you’d recommend is also the thing that takes longer.

Me: Yes, it will. But don’t let that worry you — we can still get this knocked out today.

Mrs. T: I appreciate that. My last guy didn’t do that.

Me: No problem at all. We’re glad you called us, and we’re here to get you fixed up today.

Let me think about it.

Mrs. T: I want to run it past my husband.

Me: No problem. Let’s get him on the phone on speaker so we can all talk about it together.

She went tankless. Her husband agreed with the both of us, and boy was he happy when he got home that night and took a long hot shower.

But honestly, that’s not the point of this story. Our goal is to take what would otherwise be a very stressful situation and make it an easy fix.

Want to have this conversation at your kitchen table?

Call us today. (865) 233-3900

You’ll get a written estimate, clear options, and nobody leaning on you to go in a direction you and your family aren’t comfortable with.

We’ve been serving East Tennessee homeowners since 2011. When you’re Bizzy, we’re here for you.

Common questions about going tankless

Why won’t anybody give me a price over the phone?

Because it’d be a guess. The unit is the predictable part. The gas line, the venting, and where the water heater actually sits are where the real variation is, and none of that is visible over the phone. Twenty to thirty minutes in your home gets you a number you can actually bank on.

Is a tankless water heater worth the extra money?

It depends on how you live. Long showers, laundry running while somebody’s in the bathroom, a house that fills up a few times a year — you’ll feel the difference every single day. If it’s one or two people with steady habits and your home would need major work to support one, a good tank may serve you better. We’ll tell you honestly which one makes the most sense.

Will my gas line have to be replaced?

Often it needs to come up a size, because a tankless pulls more fuel faster than the tank it’s replacing. How much work that takes depends on your home’s layout and what’s already there. We handle it ourselves as part of the same job, so it’s one company handling the whole thing.

My water heater is out right now. Can I still go tankless?

You can, and plenty of folks do — just know it may take longer than putting a tank back in, especially if the gas line or venting needs work. Tell us it’s out when you call and we’ll walk you through your options. Either way, we can get you fixed up the same day.

Does a tankless water heater need maintenance?

It does, and it’s simple. Our water here carries minerals, and in a tankless they collect in the heat exchanger instead of settling in the bottom of a tank. It gets flushed on a regular schedule and keeps running like it should. We can take care of that for you on a set schedule, so it’s one less thing you ever have to think about.