Tankless Home Water Heaters

[ma-skis.com]

Once again, CP Oracle I have a request of your near infinite knowledge,

anyone have or tried one of these out, the wife and I are getting pretty close to needing a new hot water heater, and we figure we shouldn't wait until the situation is critical, I know tanks are cheaper up front, but the long term benefit and endless hot water supply sure is intriguing.

any recommended brands or dealers?

[Knalus]

I'm interested too.

[killer_carlson]

a friend of ours who is a plumber bought a new house with one in it. He said he will never intentionally buy one or have one again if he has a choice in it.

The water does get hot, it is true, but you have to run the tap for three minutes or so before it gets hot. The waste of water is immense. Not so much in the bathtub, but in the kitchen if you want warm or hot water to do dishes, you're running it and running it.

They showed me in their kitchen after dinner. I was shocked. The waste of water was a real eye opener, especially because these are supposed to be more efficient and better for the environment. They might be more efficient from a heating perspective, but from a total global picture, you have to work in the waste of the water into your analysis.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

a friend of ours who is a plumber bought a new house with one in it. He said he will never intentionally buy one or have one again if he has a choice in it.

The water does get hot, it is true, but you have to run the tap for three minutes or so before it gets hot. The waste of water is immense. Not so much in the bathtub, but in the kitchen if you want warm or hot water to do dishes, you're running it and running it.

They showed me in their kitchen after dinner. I was shocked. The waste of water was a real eye opener, especially because these are supposed to be more efficient and better for the environment. They might be more efficient from a heating perspective, but from a total global picture, you have to work in the waste of the water into your analysis.

I was thinking about this exact thing. Since homes in NA typically have a basement (where the mechanical room is usually located), the water heater would be located relatively far from the faucet. Since the water in the pipes cools down when not in use, it would take some running of the water for hot water to eventually reach the faucet.

Of course, isn't the same thing true for a regular water heater?

I think the advantage to a tankless water heater is that it only heats water that is requested for use. Since there'll always be wasted hot water once the faucet is closed, the amount of wasted hot water is a wash. The difference is that a tankless heater doesn't spend extra energy maintaining pre-heated water.

I'd be interested to see the savings on the natural gas bill rather than the water bill.

[Slava]

I did some research into these earlier this year and everyone at every store/supplier said that it was not worth it. You pay a significant amount more and don't really make that up going forward.

[speede5]

I did a bit of research into these as we are in the midst of a massive reno. We are currently on electric. It is really debateable how much energy they save. If you are on gas already, and you throw an extra layer of insulation around your tank, it doesn't run very much when the water just sits. This is important because the impression is it is burning gas all the time and that really isin't the case. When the instantaneous ones light up they burn a lot more gas than your tank unit does. The BTU's are a lot higher and it is burning the whole time you are runnning the water, so the opinions in the field are that overall the gas consumption is not reason enough to switch. For me it doesn't make sense to turf a perfectly good water heater, pay a ton of cash to buy, install and plumb a tankless. I should at least wait till my unit calves, and even then it would be cheapest just to throw in another electric. I can't tell you how bad the power bill is due to our electric water heater cause I have three kids and no one ever turns off the lights or t.v.'s . Anyway, it doesn't seem to me that it is a huge burden.

The only benefit I can see to the instantaneous water heaters is an endless supply of hot water. In our case it was definately a consideration as we have two adults and a teenager showering so there is a benefit. If you are doing this for the enviornment though, that is a detriment. I can envision my teenager having half hour showers, and that would waste water and gas.

Be very careful if you go instantaneous, make sure you size the unit properly for your house. Home Depot sells cheap ones but they are way undersized.
I don't know if this has been much help, but I will sum up with this. The cost of all these enviro consious upgrades is far and away from what you will spend on power/gas should you leave things the way they are. It's unfortunate but it's a fact. Solar power, windpower, new windows, insulation, are all money losers. While the comfort and looks of your home may improve, you not going to save any money in the long run. IMO you should make your decision based on what you want for performance 1st, enviro 2nd.

[DuffMan]

We had a guy giving us an estimate on a furnace and he said he had a high efficiency water heater. I'd never heard of them, but I'm going to look into it when I change mine.

[stuck_in_chuk]

I have a Rinnai tankless heater. There is a savings in gas, but it does take longer to get hot water depending on how far the faucet is from the tank. My friend, who installed ours, has a setup at his house that has a small insulated tank that allows for hot water in seconds. Not sure how it all works, but we are thinking of doing the same.

Plus, tankless heaters qualify for the environmental rebates from the government (about $400, I think).

[chummer]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

We had a guy giving us an estimate on a furnace and he said he had a high efficiency water heater. I'd never heard of them, but I'm going to look into it when I change mine.

I just put in one and they're great.They have a power vent on top and it runs when the water is heating,it's about as loud as a hair dryer.
I already see savings in my power bill and there are nice rebates available now.Well worth it.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by chummer

I just put in one and they're great.They have a power vent on top and it runs when the water is heating,it's about as loud as a hair dryer.
I already see savings in my power bill and there are nice rebates available now.Well worth it.

Are these HE water heaters the same or are they the "normal" heaters with some built in efficiencies?

[chummer]

Originally Posted by Slava

Are these HE water heaters the same or are they the "normal" heaters with some built in efficiencies?

I think the big difference is the power vent on top.It's vented separately,that could be a problem in some places.

Lots of good info on the site-

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=109

[chummer]

Originally Posted by Knalus

I'm interested too.

Try this thread-

Tankless Hot Water heaters