Instant Hot Water

I need to replace my old 40 gallon hot water heater. however, my home is an older house built in 1963. Can I replace the 40 gallon gas hot water tank with a tankless hot water heater and do you think it will be more expensive because of the age of my house?

Debra,
The age of your house shouldn’t matter if you have a large enough gas line running to the water heater. Tankless heaters can be expensive to install since they require special venting and a large capacity gas line, so be sure you know the total cost before purchasing one. You can find more information on water heaters, including tankless, in our article Choosing a Hot Water Heater.

yes i was watching your show about water heaters. when my heater was put in i asked them about draining it. they told me since it is new i would not have to do that. plus they said most of the time when you do that the valve will start linking and will have trouble getting it to stop. so i do not know what to do. do it or not do it. cause if i do it and the valve links then i am going to have to change the valve. it is about four years old now and i am still getting nice hot water but watching your show got me thinking about draining my heater. so what is your comment on this. thanks dan

Hi Dan,
It is still a good idea to drain the water heater to make it work better and last longer. If it is only 4 years old, you shouldn’t have any problem with the valve.
Danny

We saw your program regarding water heater maintenance. However we didn’t catch the part of emptying water into a bucket periodically. How often should this be done?? We annually drain the water heater, but thought we heard you mentioned emptying a bucketfull periodically. Could you tell me how often this should be done.
Thank you, Linda Dean

Since the tankless water heater is on an outside wall how do you keep the cold water supply line from freezing up during the winter?

I would like info on the circulating pump and valve mounted under the lavatory furtherest from the water heater. Thanks

I have the problem in the shower on one end of the house and the kitchen sink on the other end of the house, of taking up to a full minute to get hot water. I have a finished ceiling in the basement.If I install a heat pump do I have to have a return line. Thanks Mark

I also have low water presure. to where if I turn one faucet on, the next faucet I turn on the water comes out noticeably slower. I have a 2″ well with a 1/2 hpr motor. presure tank is 10 gallon. Can I increase my water presure by getting a bigger motor or presure tank? Thanks Mark

I installed a recirculating pump with timer from home depot. It is a watts pump.This is a ranch home with water heater at one end of house & master @ other end. I installed a line at master bath sink and ran line back to check valve then into pump & into bottom of water heater. pump seems to be operating , but the return line never gets warm or hot no matter how long i run water. check valve & pump arrows are in diretion to bottom of water heater. I have installed many this way over the years. don,t know what to do . help if you can.

The “Master Plumber” in this video is using his adjustable “Crescent” wrench the wrong way. The wrench should be rotated toward the adjustable jaw…I know that he’s not working with much torque but it’s still wrong and may lead to folks using tools incorrectly……then consequently having bloody knuckles.

live in retirement community. takes up to 3 minutes to get hot water to bathroom sinks??? Some common bathrooms in building have the push down water lever–and never get hot water. Is there a valve that should have been installed originally so this problem would not exist?

Mel