Tanks, but no tanks...

[tlawler]

We put a propane fired tankless in our first house. One issue we ran into with well water was the heater could only do a 50 degree delta T, so our max output was 115 degrees on a good day. I solved that by installing a regular 40 gallon tank heater up in the attic, but didn't run electrical to it. I installed a desuperheater on my a/c condenser and piped it in to the tank, and since it was a heat pump, it heated the water in the winter also. The tank would stay around 110 to 120, but it was just enough boost to get the tankless up into the 140's with no problem. After the 40 gallons ran out, it was back to 110-115. Never ran out of hot water for showers.

 

[Farmer17]

If your water is very hard you need a water softener if you want your appliances and faucets to last the maximum amount of time. The water here is very hard and without a water softner your hot water tank or tankless unit won't last as long and the tankless units are expensive to replace. I've had my own construction company since 1993 and built many houses and commercial buildings and I prefer conventional gas HW tanks.

 

[MDF4]

^^^
I agree. I own a PVF supply company and have sold many tank-less units for large multi story residential projects. If the unit is undersized based on occupancy per unit, the complaints somehow end up coming back to us in which case management knows to refer them to the manufacturer. Annual flushing is an absolute must or the heat exchanger will calcify and degrade performance.