LESLIE: Lynette in California has questions about a tankless water-heating system. What can we do for you?
LYNETTE: I have a – I’m remodeling a bathroom in an old home and the water heater is on the opposite side. I’ve always had problems getting the water to heat up. And so I was wondering if that tank would be able to solve that problem.
TOM: No, because your problem is that the water heater is on the other side of the house; and so, no matter how you heat the water, it still has to travel a distance to get to the bath.
Now, the other solution here though is to add a second water heater nearest the bathroom; and because tankless water heaters are a lot smaller than standard, than traditional water heaters …
LESLIE: You can put it right in the closet.
TOM: Exactly.
LESLIE: And it won’t have to travel far at all.
TOM: Yep. So if you want to split the domestic water heater piping into two zones, you could have one tankless near the far end of the house where the bedrooms are and the other water heater where it is right now.
LYNETTE: But I need a closet of some sort.
TOM: Well, you need some space. I mean it could be in a closet; it could be in an attic; it could even be outside of the house. There are a lot of places you can put a tankless water heater because they’re very small; they’re like the size of a medium-sized suitcase.
LYNETTE: Oh.
LESLIE: What is the lifespan, Tom, on an exterior-placed tankless unit; similar?
TOM: I think they’d go probably 15, 20 years, yeah.
LESLIE: Really?
TOM: They’re designed to be in the weather.
LESLIE: That’s great.
LYNETTE: Alright. Alright, thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Lynette. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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