Hot water heaters

[Just Us N Texas]

Sunday morning we woke up to no hot water. Checked out the water heater, and while Jerry was in there doing that, the darned thing started a fire. He said it was coming out and being replaced. Got it drained, out of the house, and then went to "Slowes" to pick up another. While we were in there we looked at the tankless water heaters. Since there was no one there to really tell us about them, we looked at diagrams and brochures on them. It appears to me that you have to have more than one per household. One in each bathroom, and one in the kitchen. Now, I don't know if that is true or if I was just overwhelmed with all the information (or rather the lack of any concise info). The prices were at least 3 times higher than a conventional heater. Two gentlemen that were there to help us knew nothing about them, nor even the difference in some of the conventional ones. We got a conventional one, got it home and had hot water about two hours later. My question is, does anyone here have them in their houses, and if so, do you have to have more than one? Are they as easy to hook up as a conventional one? I was sorry that out of desperation, we chose the old fashioned one, when I would dearly like to look into the others. Would it be worthwhile to go back later when we have more info and get one, or should we just live with what we have? My water heater is near the guest bathroom, and it takes forever for me to get hot water back to our bathroom on the other end of the house. I am always worried about using so much water to get that hot water there!

 

[Mona]

I have no experience with them, but I often watch "Holmes on Homes". he's a Canadian contractor that goes in and fixes other peoples messes when the homeowners have been majorly ripped off by previous contractors.

Anyway, I have seen in several of his programs, when he has to replace the hot water tank/system, he has put this type in, and he LOVES them...swearas by them, and has never mentioned needing more than one in a home. He replaces the prvious system with this, so I assume it is the one unit that provides for the entire house. He gives them a

so ithey must be GOOD!

 

[Sonya]

We are in the process of remodeling right now and when we get to my laundry rm (that's where my hot water heater is) I'd like to have one of those...besides saving energy, they are so much smaller. I know they are expensive but I know next to nothing about them.

 

[Cathy_H]

Carolyn,

I was reading on these recently. What I picked up was the statement, "they are efficient but they are not economical".

Don at Pecos E has one if you want to contact him as to how he likes his. He also has a hot water heater as a backup ? and he explained why to us a few years back but Idon't remember his reasoning....................... Bet you're glad you aren't back in Ky today. Sleet, ice, freezing rain, snow - first this winter. Already started and the driveway looks like a skating rink.

 

[Al B]

I have never understood why you need a hot water heater. If the water is already hot why heat it.

I don't have one but this is what I think I know about the tankless types:

The 110v model will heat water up 27 degrees.

The 220v model will heat water up 47 degrees.

Nice warm shower water is about 102-104 degrees

Therefore the incoming water temp would have to be at least 55 degrees to keep the shower warm.

Also I believe they greatly restrict the volume of water flow. If you use a lot of hot water they may not be economical but if you use it seldom then it would be. I would like to replace the 30 gal. water heater in my barn with one. I very seldom use hot water there except to bathe horses and when I do 30 gal. is not enough to bathe more than 1 or 2 horses. They don't really care if the water is hot, just not fridged. Makes no sense to continuously heat 30 gal of water to use infrequently. I turned off the circuit breaker to the water heater and my monthly electricity bill for the barn went down $100.

However, there are newer models everyday.

 

[Minxiesmom]

We did a major remodel 5 years ago and installed tankless h/w heaters and WE LOVE THEM!!!! We have no problems with them. I decided to put one at each end of the house, one for kitchen and back bath; and one for laundry and m/bath. My reasoning to use two of them was water wasted while waiting for the hot water to get to the tap. We are on a low producing well and didn't want to waste the waiting water.

Our gas bill is low year around because of them. The water is plenty hot for showers and other needs. When we installed them, they were still too new for the local plumbers to know anything about them, so we had to install them ourselves. EASY! I actually hooked one of them up. IMHO they are the only way to go! We have friends that have put them in recently and they feel the same!

Don't let anyone talk you out of them. If they don't like them, it is because they were improperly installed or adjusted.

 

[Thunder]

Due to the intial cost they have not caught on to well in the USA. EU uses them alot. They heat the water on demand so if you don't use alot of water OR you are gone alot of time they may equal a normal hot-water tank bill. They can be either electric or gas powered. The electric requires no roof vent; so sometimes that is why it is prefered. They are different sizes also: just for the kitchen sink style to the larger 220v for a full bath or two.

It is sort of like someone having a trash compactor or seperate Ice machine in their home; when moving they won't take them but the new home must have them installed when they move in! Just a rule of thumb seen over past years.

Yes, its seems hard to find a retail store or plumber around the USA that can explain their purpose. Builders are always trying to shave cost so seldom are they added until requested by the buyer.

Good Luck & let us know how you like one later on.

 

[uwharrie]

The problem with the electric ones is they created a "high demand" on your electric service. A traditional Electric Water heater will usually pull no more than 5500 watts ( 5.5KW) a tankless heater can pull 28,000 watts (28KW) it can create a strain on your electric service and transformer

http://www.progress-energy.com/custservice...rs/tankless.asp

I worked for this company in the 80s. We always suggested folks get a large capacity traditional water heater. Ours is 55 gals and is on a timer ( we are on a "time of use" rate that saves us over $400 a year) I estimate we spend less than $30 a month on heating water.

 

[kareng]

We looked at going with the tankless at our place but decided against it. We were advised not to because we have a well with hard water. In the plumber's experience unless you have perfect water you can run into problems. He suggested we keep our propane one and then add a smaller electric one right beside it as extra storage. It doesn't cost alot because that one isn't "firing up" but it gives you more hot water pretty economically. He has installed quite a few of these.

kareng

 

[wantminimore]

We have a Rinnai water heater, you can set it to what you want the water temp. to be. One thing I don't like about it vs. the big water tanks is that while in the shower if someone else runs water in the kitchen, you shower water gets cold. So like another poster has done 2 would probably work well. Ours is propane and the gas company came and installed it for us.