Tankless water heater

[ALAN GEDDES]

I have been looking at Tankless electric water heater for use in garage for occasional shower use. The specs are a little confusing. Anyone have any experience with these things?

[BusCamp]

Alan,
I represent Eemax where I live, so I'm familiar with these heaters. You need a little information before deciding which unit to buy. You will need to determine the temperature of the incoming water and the temperature you want coming out of the shower. Remember, the temp coming in during the winter will be the coldest and this is the temp you want to use for incoming. The next fact you need is how much hot water do you need. This is in gallons per minute. Two gallons per minute is ok. With this information you can go to Eemax.com and use their chart to determine the KW's you'll need and the unit that will provide it. Pay close attention to the electrical requirements (how many amps your unit will need). With this information you can contact a dealer in your area. I recommend a plumbing wholesale supply company. They will be familiar with what you want. Good luck!
John

[Arne]

John, when we needed to replace our house water heater, I was surprised that the cost savings was not more spectacular... looked to be only about 20%. That put against the additional cost of the heater put us right back with a 40 gallon electric...

[NH Stripper]

We put a Rinnai tankless in last June 'cause we didn't like the idea of paying to heat water 24/7 and my wife was tired of running out of hot water in the shower. I'm not going to try to count the pennies to determine how long before we see a "savings"...ohterwise we are happy with it. Its been an adjustment for her when she uses any of the faucets, when you turn the hot water on it takes a bit for the unit to heat water and get it to the faucet. Sometimes she's done with the water before it gets hot (I'm talking a very short time here) so in my mind she's wasted the energy (propane) heating water she didn't use. No regrets on our choice to do this.

[ALAN GEDDES]

What I need is something to be used in 30x30 garage with guest room upstairs that I am helping my brother in law build in his back yard. It will have a full bathroom (shower not tub) just for convenience sake for when you are just too funky to go in the house without the wife getting upset. So an on demand unit should suffice for the few times it will get used. Mostly it will be for washing hands. NC is quite mild where we are winter wise. Getting ready to wire and plumb it now.

[Guy]

Dear Alan,

Here is a link to a great radiant heating company I have worked with in the past.

http://www.radiantcompany.com/heatsources/#ondemand[url][/url]

[Q]

Tankless hot water heaters are the norm in most countries. They're more efficient than a tank, more compact, but more expensive. Personally I've been using a solar hot water heater for the last 17 years. The Oregon DOE bought it for me for $1200.00. It's been making touble free hot water ever since.

Q

[Elumia]

Depending on your state/energy provider, you also will likley get a rebate for purchasing a tankless heater which will make it price competitive with a standard tank type.

Mark

[Geron]

We put a Rinnai tankless in last June 'cause we didn't like the idea of paying to heat water 24/7 and my wife was tired of running out of hot water in the shower. I'm not going to try to count the pennies to determine how long before we see a "savings"...ohterwise we are happy with it. Its been an adjustment for her when she uses any of the faucets, when you turn the hot water on it takes a bit for the unit to heat water and get it to the faucet. Sometimes she's done with the water before it gets hot (I'm talking a very short time here) so in my mind she's wasted the energy (propane) heating water she didn't use. No regrets on our choice to do this.

This reminded me of an incident with my parents (both dead now). They rarely ever "argued" but on this occasion Dad found that Mom was turning on the "hot" water when she needed a little "cold" water (takes a while for the hot to get to the faucet so she got the "cold" water from the "hot")

"Now Mildred," Dad would say, "When you use the "hot" to get a little cold it costs us money to heat it back up." "But Leonard," Mom would reply. "The water's not hot its cold. How could it cost us to heat it?" Dad would try to explain the "draw" on the hot water heater. Far as I know Mom never "got it." Was a running arguement -- She probably got it but would never admit it.

I'd just sit and grin

[NH Stripper]

That story is hilarious...even their names, Leonard and Mildred, are perfect. I can relate...it drives me crazy when I hear the unit fire up as she turns on the faucet for a just a little bit of water. You may have something there about them not letting on they understand, they're jsut doing it to get under our skin!

[BusCamp]

Arne,
These heaters, gas and electric are usually a slow payoff economically.
John

[ALAN GEDDES]

John, I would agree with the slow payout in your house but this is for when hot water may only be used a few times a month in the garage. No sense in having a full time hot water heater going 24-7.

[Jim Wellington]

My wife and I have been in our new house for two years.

I knew that one of the features I wanted in our new house was a tankless hot water system, and it had to be electric. I did as much reserch as I could.

I went with a S.E.T.S. water heater. They have a lifetime warranty (free replacement of parts)

We have been VERY happy with the unit.

We have four bedroom house and bought a model 220.

We have an unlimited supply of hot water!

I cannot give you aboslute numbers on energy savings because this is the only house we have lived in in this area and it has always had tankless hot water. I have compared electric bills with neighbors, and ours is 20-35% lower.

Our incomming water temp can get very cold so we can only use hot water in one location at a time. ( I think if I had bought a model 280 we could use hot water in two locations at once but they were not available 2+ years ago) It doesn't sound like that will be a problem in your application.

Overall I am very happy with my choice. It costs a little more up front.
There is a little learning curve. But, I am convinced that we use much less energy. And... when we have a house full of visitors, the sixth shower is just as hot as the first!

I do not have any interest in the company. I just took a leap of faith... and am pleased with the results.

Jim

P.M. me if you have any questions

[Ira]

"Now Mildred," Dad would say, "When you use the "hot" to get a little cold it costs us money to heat it back up." "But Leonard," Mom would reply. "The water's not hot its cold. How could it cost us to heat it?" Dad would try to explain the "draw" on the hot water heater. Far as I know Mom never "got it." Was a running arguement -- She probably got it but would never admit it.

I'd just sit and grin

This is funny! And call me nuts, but:

I think I agree with your mother.

The heater still has to heat up any water in the tank to KEEP it hot, so how is running a little cold out of the pipes out of it going to hurt? (Mine doesn't fire up when I use a lttile hot--I don't think.) Yeah, the tank has to refill a tad, but do you think that's gonna make any real difference on how much energy is used to mainatin the temp on the entire tank?

On a 20-gallon tank, how much is she pulling for a glass of water:

A glass?

[NH Stripper]

The way I figure it, when the tap is turned on in the "hot" position (I have a single valve for both hot and cold) the heater senses the demand for "hot" water and ignites immediately to satisfy this demand. So, when the tap is opened in "hot," even just to fill a small glass with cold water, the unit turns on and is burning propane to heat water in the unit. When the tap is turned off, the unit still burns for a little bit until it senses the demand is no longer there. I can hear this process when it happens in my house. Yes, the water is cold because the demand was not long enough to allow the newly heated water to get to the tap. But in the meantime a small amount of propane was expended for no reason...a small amount of propane I paid for, and several small amounts add up over time! Why burn it up needlessly?