A friend who's facing replacement of a 60 gallon gas water heater asked me what I knew about electric tankless heaters.
The "family" is two adults living in a single family house in the Boston Area.
I've no firsthand experience with tankless heaters. The bit of stuff I've read leads me to believe that installing a whole house tankless unit as a replacement for their gas fired heater is very likely going to require increasing the capacity of the electric service to their house, along with the installation a new panel and heavier conductors from the panel to the tankless heater location.
The incoming water supply temperature around here gets into the low 40s during the winter, requiring a pretty powerful tankless heater in order to raise that to a comfortable temperature for showering, even with a low flow showerhead.
And, if one person is showering and the other starts the clothes washer and then decides to do the dishes, things could get coolish in the shower, huh?
I'm thinking they'll be needing at least a 125 amp 220v circuit for the heater, which will almost certainly necessitate the electrical changes mentioned above.
Comments from those in the know?
Jeff