So you are thinking of moving up to a tankless water heater for your home?
There are a few things you should both know and do before going forward and committing to a tankless system for your home. 
- Ensure you have either natural gas or propane at your home.
- A tankless requires unique venting so you should check to make sure a new vent can be run from your mechanical room. Also a tankless will require a ¾ inch gas line, if you are unsure a sales person or pre-inspector can confirm.
- Call a few local contractors and have a sales person come in and give you a quote for the system and installation. It is important to get more than one quote as some contracts are robbing people blind. Also don’t choose the cheapest quote as that contractor is cutting corners somewhere and it usually doesn’t end up well for the home owner.
- Make sure to compare which tankless system is being sold and try to compare like units (condensing units cost more than non-condensing but offer higher efficiencies).
- In the Toronto and Southern Ontario area the minimum BTU I would expect is 150,000 anything less and the system is likely undersized
- Take notice of where the sales person suggests the tankless be mounted, if you disagree and want it in a different location make sure to have this clearly noted in the quote.
- Have the sales person show you their plan for venting the tankless and where the vent pipes will terminate. As a very general guideline to remember it that a tankless vent needs to be 1 foot above grade, 3 feet from any window, 3 feet from any existing exhaust outlets, 3 feet from your gas meter, and not into any shared walkway less than 5 feet wide.
Tankless water heaters are efficient systems that turn 90 cents or more of every dollar you spend into hot water you are guaranteed to use. Your conventional water heater will turn 50 cents of every dollar you spend (even less if it’s an older water heater) into hot water that you may or may not even use.
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