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The sound of hiss.

Which is something I should pay more attention to, but I don't. I figure it was my dish washer. Alas, it wasn't.

When I went into the laundry room this morning, what laid before was water. Flooded.

Thank goodness it wasn't flood like Noah's Ark, but enough to get most of the ground wet. Worse, the drain at the bottom of the laundry room was clogged. Some genius decided to paint over it, closing the necessary holes that would allow the water to harmlessly disperse (well, harmless in relative terms.)

Turns out my water tank bursted. After fourteen years of faithful service, it's given up its ghost.

I really want do go the tankless hot water route, but at $3327 including installation (and that's just a rough estimate, basic install cost is $1200), that's a lot of bread.

I went to Home Depot, and checked out my options. It seems that for less than twelve hunnies I can get a 40 gallon tank (I don't know why we don't use litres in this situation, but we don't), installed. That includes the $150 required mix valve by the government. So if you subtract the above numbers, we get a difference of about $2245 - give or take here and there.

The energy savings I get with tankless water heaters are about 25-40%. Currently, in Sept and Oct, I paid $55 for natural gas. I didn't turn on heat yet, so I assume that that was the price of heating up my water.

If I save the maximum 40% from switching, that means I'm saving about $20 (I'm not good with math, please don't email me to correct me.) So let's go small and save $200 a year.

That multiply by 11 years would come close to about the difference between tank and tankless heaters. That means it takes 11 years for me to break even, and then beyond that is all gravy.

Tankless heaters last 20 years, so says the people selling it. The tanked ones from Home Depot has a 12 year warranty.

I have a philosophy. When one makes a big purchase that affects more than one person, don't skimp.

I might live alone, but eventually I won't. If that means I have tenants or whatever, someone else will share the water with me. I want what's best, and right now the best is tankless.

Still, if I somehow have to sell or whatever, then I've lost all my potential hot water savings from 12 years onward. Who knows what will happen right? I don't plan on leaving, but maybe I can't afford the house or whatever, and have to evict myself.

I'm so torn. I always thought I'd buy a tankless heater when I was given the chance. But with the new car, the washer/dryer combo, and Christmas, I don't see how this will work.

....Besides, a lifetime guarantee on the water tank is too nice to pass up. posted by losir at 10:43 PM