Due to a tornado leveling our house in 2003, we had to rebuild starting from the slab.
My builder asked us if we had a wish list.
Since our house was total electric, my wife couldn't have a gas stove, so one wish was to get gas brought from the road (we live in the country) to our house. That way we could have a gas fired fireplace (I used to hate starting a fire, so we didn't use it much). We could also have gas powered tankless water heaters. I had read about them and talked to an electrician/plumber friend of mine and was intrigued by the idea. My friend told me NOT to buy an electric one. He said that since we would probably need two due to the length of our house, it would require a "home run" circuit from each heater and they just weren't that powerful to heat water, even with the maximum amps.
So...we got the gas line done and they installed two heaters, one on each end of the house. One is for the kitchen and east bathroom. The other for the two bathrooms on the west end of the house. (The heaters are about 100 feet apart.)
I can't give them enough praise! Our gas bill is very low (about $16 per month) even in the winter. I would not go back to a tank-type heater under any circumstance due to their massive waste of gas/electricity. Especially living in the country, because utilities are almost double what they are in town.
If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate buying one. Get a good name brand with good ratings at the best price. Installation is a cinch for a professional.
One caveat: Since the computer that controls the heater is powered by electricity, every time we had a power "blink", which happens often where we live, we had to go to the units to turn them back on, usually after stepping into a COLD shower. I bought two backup power supplies (the kind used for computers) for very little money, placed them in the water heater closets, plugged the units into them (in series) and now as soon as the power "blinks" or goes off, the backup battery comes on in milliseconds and we have no interruption of power or hot water.
You can call plumbing contractors in your area to get recommendations of brands to buy.
Good luck!
