Tuesday afternoon thing

Ugh, I am needing reassurance that I am making the right decision here.

Yes, I need a new hot water heater. That is non-negotiable. But reading this Ask raises a couple things that worry me:

a. the gas line. Is mine big enough? Will they wind up having to rip out walls or something to run a bigger one? Or (dare I hope) did the dude look and see that it was big enough, or maybe the brand they promote (Navien) doesn't require it.

b. hard water is apparently like, really really bad for them. I have super-hard water. I don't want a water softener (my high blood pressure) and I REALLY don't want to pay for a whole-house filter. Will the annual flushing (which the plumber said I could either call them out to do, or I could learn how to do myself - apparently it's easy enough) take care of it?

c. Do they actually last longer? I know there are differences between the contractor grade (which is what the plumber has assured me I will get - they stand behind the brand of tankless ones they offer) and the "home center buy off the shelf grade" but I still worry as this is a newish technology. And I really don't want to go to this rodeo again in another couple of years.

The lag-time people have mentioned really isn't an issue for me - I usually wash my hands in cool water anyway, and as for showering, I can just turn it on and wait a little longer to get in the shower. (Maybe it wastes a little water but we're in a pretty well-watered area here). 

(I am also aware right now of just how much I have come to depend on taking a warm shower as a comfort behavior - having to wash, standing up, in the bathroom, using water heated in a pot and a washcloth, is not the same as standing under a jet of nice warm water)

I dunno. I took part of the afternoon and stayed home and cleaned up my kitchen (I still have to wet mop the floor, probably after I eat dinner tonight). If nothing else my kitchen is cleaner than it's been in months and I did stuff like "marry" jars of spices where it turned out I had two and had used part of each, and I found an old plastic "platter" to set most of my spice jars on so it is easier to move them when I want to wipe down the counter under where they are.

But still. I wish I could talk to Future Me and have her tell me either "Oh, it went totally well, the new hot water heater is great" or "NO NO NO you need to go back and arrange for a new tanked heater" (even though that has its own set of issues).

Argh.