Anonymous wrote:Don't they have to be on an exterior wall though so that could be limiting for some folks?

Mine is in the basement and on the wall I share with my neighbor (townhouse)

Love it. Takes up less space and seems to be more energy efficient. Also, less worry about the tank rusting out and flooding the room
- we've lived in townhouses where the water heater was in a closet off of the main floor, and always had a bit of anxiety about the water heater leaking and ruining flooring.

We have had it for about 15 years.
The biggest issue is making sure you find a plumber who knows how to service it.

We made the decision in order to open up floor space - previous one was in the center of the room (I am not kidding - at least 8 feet from the closest wall) in our unfinished basement - but we really needed to space.

We’ve always had one - past 3 houses - and when we moved into our row house, it was one of the first changes we made. Having hot water for all is non -negotiatable for us. Also, getting rid of large hot water tank and replacing with a small wall unit created so much usable space in our basement. No regrets.

Anonymous wrote:Don't they have to be on an exterior wall though so that could be limiting for some folks?

There are some that are affixed to the outside of the structure, but others are made to be inside. They do all vent to the outside, but that's not hard to do. We had one that had a vent through a crawl space to an outside wall. The only issue was making sure the vent didn't get blocked with snow in the winter (one winter we lost our hot water during a snow storm until we figured out the problem & cleared the vent. Bird's nests can be an issue, as well.). One house we owned had a large unit in the basement that supplied the first two floors, and a small unit in a closet next to the master bath that supplied only the master bath.

My only critique is that the label "instant hot water" isn't really accurate. It takes a little bit to get hot water, especially if the unit is any distance from the point of use. If you really want "instant" hot water, you need a tank with a recirculating unit.

After having several of these things, another issue is that the hot water doesn't necessarily adjust instantaneously and precisely with a turn of the knob. Sometimes (and some units are worse about this than others), turning down the hot water a bit will cause the hot water to momentarily cut off completely. Also, when our plumber went to install one in our new addition, getting our thermostat controlled shower knobs talk to the water heater wasn't easy. Our (excellent) plumber spent hours on the phone with the manufacturer before they figured out how to make it work (but it works find now).

Are you talking about tankless hot water heaters? They aren't instant...but once they get hot they will go forever.

Don't they have to be on an exterior wall though so that could be limiting for some folks?

I regret not getting one. I love a long hot shower and now with kids, sometimes mine gets cold.

Plus, they take up less space - we could have a little storage in there (we're in a row house, every square foot counts.

I have an instant one and LOVE it. Never have to worry about having enough water to take a shower.

Can't get teens out of the shower.

Thinking about making the switch. I understand the whole no hot water if power goes out but outside of that what has your experience been? Pros and cons? Regrets?