On demand tankless water heater

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Kim Griffiths

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I know this has nothing to do with the Trac but I am having a hard time finding information to make a decision. So, like on the Millionaire show, I want to ask the audience.



Does anyone here have any advice about tankless hot water heaters, electrical preferably. Is there a site I can read about them? Are they all that better than tank heaters? How much have you saved per month? Do you get enough hot water from them?



Shout it out, I am sure I am not the only one questioning this.



And if this post offends someone because it isn't t Trac related, I apologize.
 
kgriffis, here in Mexico with natural gas , you can save until 60 -70 % of gas.



you have enough heat water becouse when you need it you have it.

the only condition to used this water heater are you have enough water "pression",



i hope this help you
 
If you search water heater, it is like the 5th post down.



Here is a site very helpful about water heaters, and discuss the tankless topic.
 
I agree with Eduardo. I have used these sytems in Europe and as long as you have normal water pressure, these things work flawlessly. What is nice is that you can take a hour-long shower and never run out of hot water, because it is all on demand. Another thing your might consider is a solar water heater. I had one of these in my apartment in Turkey. In the summer, my flash heater never came on, because the solar heater provided everything I needed.
 
As an electrician in wisconsin the electric ones do not provide very hot water i dont know about the gas ones but for me an electric one is only good for washing your hands and such glad i could help if i did!
 
This is the Rheem site for hot water. I Haven't read it yet but they are supposed to give you some info on them. This is also a quote off of their site.[Most electric tankless hot water heaters can run only one major application (shower, dishwasher, washing machine) at a time. Even moderately sized gas tankless water heaters can often satisfy the needs of an entire, typical American household]._Ron
 
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As in Jon's post with the link.....there are alot of things to factor in; cost, usage (whole house) the company (some come and go).



I have a friend who had one installed, but has found in the winter months, it can't produce the amount of hot water he could get compared to his tank water heater. He ended up installing a second unit in parallel to his first unit and doubled the cost for his installation plus electrical usage to power both units. This was installed in a completely electrical home...no gas.



I have thought about getting one of those types that mount under the sink for my master bath since it takes forever for hot water to get to that part of the house. But I don't think my cost savings would be worth it for the cost of the unit.



From the smarterhotwater website:

Electric tankless water heaters can be more expensive to operate, especially to meet the demands of a large luxury bathroom. Each electric heater has different electrical requirements. Encourage clients to consult with an electrician prior to making a purchase.

• Most electric tankless hot water heaters can run only one major application (shower, dishwasher, washing machine) at a time. Even moderately sized gas tankless water heaters can often satisfy the needs of an entire, typical American household

 
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Also one of the things that is confusing is the difference in a tankless water heater and a point of use water heater. A point of use waterheater is a small tank style water heater._Ron
 
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We installed a gas fired tankless hot water heater last year. It's been great. The only complaint I have is that it takes a little longer for hot water to reach the fixtures, particularly on the upper floor of our house (two stories and lots of pipe length away from the heater). Wastes some water. But our natural gas bill did go down quite a bit.

 
Bill, the only problem with recirculating pump is it defeats the purpose of saving gas. The heater would have to run quite a bit to keep the temperature up in the hot water line._Ron
 
Do not buy an Electrical tankless hot water heater for the whole house. Only buy Gas units. The electrical units are OK if you buy small units and mount them under each sink as booster units, but not as the sole source for hot water.



I purchased and install and electrical unit about 8-9 years ago and was very unhappy with the unit. I had to rework my electrical service panel to handle the 100 amp demand required by the electric tankless heater. I purposely got the next larger size so there would be no problems delivering the required amount of hot water.



I only left the unit in for about 6 months and took it out and installed a standard 52 gallon hot water heater.



The lectric on demand unit was slow to heat the water and worked only if you turned th flow down very low. If you turned the flow up higher to fill a bathtub, the unit did not have enough time to heat the water and you only got warm water.



I lived in Germany in the late 1960's and they had both gas and electric on-demand, tankless water heaters and I thought they were great then. I wondered why it took them so long to catch on in the United States? Any way, I had a gas unit in my appartment in Germany and it was wonderful. It could provide non-stop hat water all day. I even had the landloard turn the unit down a bit because it was just too hot and the sink did not have a mixing valve, and the water was scalding hot within about 10 seconds.



I am looking at getting a gas one now and running it on LP gas since we do not have natural gas where I live.



...Rich
 
I currently have a year-old, single-story, 2760sqft home. I have propane and a Rheem tankless water heating system. I love it. I have hot water as long as I need it, and don't have to extend energy to keep it hot when I'm not using it. I've had 2 showers going with the dishwasher running with no loss of hot water. I live in South Texas, so I don't know how it woulld fare in northern winters. Gas is the way to go with these, however, the electric systems are not that good.
 
Some of the problem with the tankless water heaters is the temperature of the incoming water. In my area in the winter, the water temps can bottom out at 34F. Most tankless water heaters assume a 50F temperature. Even the gas ones have a hard time keeping up in the winter in my area, unless it's just one appliance using the hot water
 
ChrisT makes a very good and valid point about the incomming temperature of the water. Most on-demand hot water heaters will be rated at how much they can raise water temperature at so many gallons per minute, and it's all based on the incoming temperature of the water.



Here in Texas the ground stays pretty hot in the summer and you can take a pretty warm shower just using the cold water. In the winter time the water gets pretty cold because our pipes are not buried more than about 2 feet underground.



So the smart thing to do is to determine how cold the water comming into your house is and 34 degrees would probably be a good estimation for most parts of the country. If you want an on-demand heater to be able to deliver 120 degree water, you will need a unit that is capable of raising the water temperature about 90 degrees at the flow rate you need.(generally several gallons per minute)



...Rich
 
RichardL, that 34 degrees sounds like the worst of the worst case.



In the northern parts where there is perma-frost the lines are buried much lower and the temperature of the water is never hovering around freezing...that's the whole point of buring the lines deep.



In other parts of the country where freezing is rare to never the lines, as you say, are closer to the surface, with the understanding that they never (rarely) freeze.



So, yes, 34 F degrees as your lowest temp is an extreme worst case. Most of the tap/well water I am used to in the Northeast comes out around 55 deg F at the coldest months, slightly higher in the warm months.



TJR
 

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