We currently have a gas water heater in our laundry room (part of a converted garage, on slab). The hot water and gas are (obviously) running to it with no problem.
When I was getting a quote for a tankless gas water heater, the sales rep looked at the setup and decided we should put it outside by the gas meter instead, on the opposite end of the house.
This is slightly nice, since it will be closer to the bathrooms and they'll get hot water faster. However, I'm concerned about the level of work required to put it out there. They'll need to drill through the brick wall into the crawlspace to access the hot water lines, cap off the gas and water lines in the laundry room, and run the control unit wires through the crawlspace up into an interior closet — instead of simply taking out the existing tank, putting the tankless unit in, and sticking the controls to the laundry room wall. I'm also surprised that having the heater outside makes sense from an efficiency and durability standpoint (we're in South Carolina, a mild climate, but even so).
Does it make sense to put the tankless hot water heater in a complete different place like that, or is this plan unnecessarily complicated?
Best Answer
Are you OK with "beautifying" your house by adding a post-industrial or modern "style" water heater on the outside of your house? Is there some other interior hidden space close to the bathroom that will be less conspicuous?
You could also run a dedicated ½" or ⅜" PEX hot water line to the bathroom, which will store much less water and therefore result in faster hot water there.