Depends on where it rots out, but either way you may end up with a mess on your hands.
I just had my tankless unit serviced, a couple years in and I just forgot to clean the filter. Oops…
So far, we are noticing a slight drop throughout the year in our propane use. Hard to point to the water heater as the sole source of cost savings, but I’m working hard to convince myself it was worth it. We NEVER run out of hot water though.
Actually I found out it was a Bosch and the circuit board was smoked and they couldn’t find one to replace it
I am curious how the durability of electric hot water tanks compares to the gas ones. I was eyeing up a few different electric tankless heaters but I don’t know about long term reliability. The #1 reason for looking at electric ones is packaging in my house. The electric ones take up very little space and I will likely install one in my kitchen cabinet. Plus they are really cheap. The current draw on them on the other hand is massive, There would never be a pay back on tankless on electric.
How small of a space are you trying to stick it in? My Navien is about a 2’x2’ square. You still have to vent the electric one so there is that to still consider. I can’t speak for the durability of an electric tankless one but I would NEVER go with one over a gas model.
In my house I have a 30 gallon gas water heater taking up a entire cabnet in my kitchen. I am going to install the electric tankless in top of this space. I will turn the rest into shelves and move delete the closet in the left of the picture and move its contents into the space the 30 gal unit currently occupies. The wall to the left of the picture will also be removed after a beam is installed to support the space. That will open the kitchen into the living room space and make it much more open. That is the plan at least. new counters, flooring in both the kitchen and living room and get rid of the awful drop tile and put in drywall. The removal of the drop tile will gain 8 inches of height and the additional space in the living room will be a huge selling point in my opinion.
there is no vent at all for a electric unit.
just a example.
