To tank or not to tank... that is the question.

I found out a few weeks ago that the closet my mom drew in the plans for the furnace and hot water heater was not large enough for the hot water heater. She designed the closet with the standard sizes for both things, but for some reason the furnace took up too much room... I guess it was the cold air return? I don't know.

Anyways, by the time we realized it, it was too late to do anything about it so we then had to decide what to do about it. We'd considered from the begining getting a tankless / instantaneous hot water heater, but they're more money to buy, and as it turns out, also more expensive to vent in our situation. The instantaneous hot water heaters are A LOT smaller than a normal hot water heater. They can be hung on the wall and are fairly small... maybe the size of 3 shoe boxes side to side, but thinner.

It came down to spending extra money and getting the instantaneous hot water heater or putting a standard one in what was supposed to be my coat closet under the stairs. I just decided now that taking into account the money they save (you only heat the water you need as opposed to a normal tank of hot water which just sits there hot) and the space I would lose in an already space-tight house, that the tankless was worth the expenditure.

I'm planning on getting the Noritz N023, which can heat 6.3 gallons per minutes, etc etc. This means I can use two major appliances at a time (shower/dish washer/washing machine) and have hot water forever. I could take a 2 hour shower.

Hell, I could even take a shower with cower for an hour with some soap that smelled like sour flowers.... now that's some power!