Our OEM natural gas water heater is turning 25 years old and considering upgrading to a NG tankless. Our home is a 4-3 with an outdoor kitchen roughly 2800 sqft with an outdoor kitchen and bathroom so an extra kitchen sink, shower and vanity.

• What's your experience been?
• What's the best unit for performance and longevity?
• What brand/s do I need to watch out for?
• Condensing yes or no?

Have owned a Navien condensing unit for 10+ years. It has been flawless.

Tankless, do it. Will supply multiple fixtures hot water at once, but remember you may be limited by pressure, meaning 2 showers at once will have limited pressure.

Tankless is great. I hope i never go back. One unit should be fine for your needs. I've had Rheem and Rinnai with no issues over 5-10 years. If you get one, definitely follow the instructions on flushing and cleaning filters, it'll make a big difference in performance and hopefully longevity.

Sounds like damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead and most will agree demand gas is the bomb, so all new designs get two of these per house.

That said, after Texas Feb 2021, custom designs all want a gas/wood fireplace for heat and at least one tank WH, with gas preferred.

• Tank water heaters: Can provide hot water from a full tank during a power outage. However, many newer models have electronic ignition systems that require electricity to work.

Because my projects pro/personal have me swamped, gotta choose the route of a) shopping a smart gas WH, a bit oversized, then b) DIY install if under55yo, otherwise plumber install while upgrading other stuff on same trip

Glad I didn't have a tankless during the great winter storm a few years back. If your electric is out then the tankless doesn't work.

I have a small power station battery that can easily power it.

Leeman said:

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Glad I didn't have a tankless during the great winter storm a few years back. If your electric is out then the tankless doesn't work.

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I ran mine during Uri with a small Harbor Freight inverter generator (2kW). Which is also enough to run the central gas furnace to heat the home, lights, internet router, TV and fridg.

Navien here, has been flawless.

One selling point was the unit I selected could exhaust via PVC rather than a more custom metal pipe.

I wish I would have put a circulating line in with the install to master, my unit had that function built in and it was never mentioned by plumber as an add on.