tankless water heater suggestions

[cabra]

I have to admit that I am scared of my future hot water heater.

I am buying a house, and the little I know about my future hot water heater is that while it _looks_ peaceful, harmless, and normal ("tanked"-style), it is also something on the order of 16 years old.

Now, it may well be that I could put some work into maintaining it and get another N years of life out of it.  But in my heart of hearts I believe that it is just waiting for me to move in, then go away for a weekend, and then finally rust through the bottom of the tank and flood out the basement.

What I'd really rather do is to just go ahead and replace that bad boy with a new tankless water heater.  Probably with a gas-powered model, since the current "tanked" water heater is gas.  (Although I realize that the location may not currently have sufficient venting or gas flow for a tankless model.  Maybe electric would be easier, although the house only has 60Amp service.)

I'll rely on the assistance of professionals to install the hypothetical unit.  But I'd prefer to be able to do future maintenance and repairs on it myself.

To that end, are there any suggestions for a good model or manufacturer to look at for an easy-to-maintain tankless water heater?

More generally, as I coordinate with the installers, are there any suggestions of things I might do to make life easier on myself?  I notice another poster suggested using Webstone isolator valves; sounds good to me, they even have "keeps the hot side hot and the cool side cool" features.

Anyway, this is my chance to get it right, so any advice on how to do that is appreciated.  (For that matter, I'd be happy to hear any arguments saying that I'd be a fool to go the tankless route...)

[RegUS_PatOff]

you could just get a replacement gas tank-style water heater for now and spend a few years looking into tankless...

I don't have tankless...

a few questions:

What part of (what) country do you live ?

Is gas heating cheaper than electric heating ?

does it get below freezing ?

depending on how big (capacity) unit you would need:

how many people (teens = adults) (showers, tubs, dishwashing, clothes washing)

If you could talk to a freind or neighbor that has a tankless for advantages/disadvantages, ect...

 

 

[Cactus Bob]

16 YEARS AND COUNTING !  and you might get another 10 out of it . i would not panic you have a well made one there . yes it can leak but so WILL  the nw one in 6 YEARS OR SO ... tankless is not great , a whole new set of problems comes up , we have pulled a few for just not working and nobody can make it work, new boards , sensors ect .work for a while and quit ... THERE JUST NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME YET  .if you look for reviews on the web for tankless you will find a lot of people who JUST GOT THERES  and love it,,sure anything works good when new ...3 years into it lets see what the same people say now ! ......most water heaters , 99 precent or so delevop a leak slowley so a little water alarm next to the water heater is your best bet , going away and worred ? turn the water off to it ! and dont worry    the way i see it .... i wish my water heater was 16 years old insteed of the one  i have that i HAVE TO REPLACE every 4 years because of leaks