Do you have a tankless hot water heater? Do you like it? Why or why not?

Have you considered getting a tankless hot water heater and decided against it?

We are considering getting one. I am actually familiar with tankless hot water heaters from my time living in Ireland. In Ireland, there were two standard ways to have a hot shower. Option 1, typically in older or lower income homes, was an “immersion.” If you wanted to take a hot shower, you turn on the immersion, which heats the water, and an hour later you probably have enough hot water for a shower. One house I lived in had a timer so you could pre-heat the hot water for your morning shower. Most places didn’t which practically speaking meant I showered a lot less.

Many newer houses or those belonging to higher income people had tankless hot water heaters. Basically, the water gets instantaneously heated. I did not like these systems. The issues I personally experienced were:

• Water could be cold or hot but not in between. You were either scalded or frozen. If you were getting scalded, you’d try to turn down the water a touch and the water would go from too hot to too cold, usually very cold.
• Low water pressure. In Ireland, these were usually individual shower units and one big system of water heating and dispensing. For whatever reason, the water pressure was always paltry.

I also remember my parents had tankless water heating in France and my mom would talk about how she or Dad would be in the shower and somebody else in the house would turn on the hot water elsewhere, and the person in the shower would be doused with icy water and you’d hear a blood-curdling scream. They used to joke about this. Of course, this was in the 70s.

One hopes technology has improved in the last few decades, but googling it, it’s a little unclear. A lot of the same old problems still seem to exist. What’s your experience?