Tankless Water Heater

[Airfive]

I am seriously considering switching from my gas water heater to an electric tankless model. I was curious if anyone on this forum has had any experiences with tankless water heaters. Thanks.

[Wgoodrich]

The inuse only water heaters have a good track record. While it is hard to believe considering the massive amount of power being used at time water is running IT DOES SAVE YOU A GOOD DEAL OF MONEY in electrical cost.

Consider a 4500 watt water heater element that cycles on an off 24 hours a day 7 days a week whether you are there or on a long vacation. The heat must be maintained in that water heater. There will never be a day that water heater does not run often in a 24 hour period at 4500 watts any time it cycles on and off.

Now consider an inline inuse only water heater that pulls 100 times that much power as a normal water heater but only runs that short time your faucets or tub or washer is running using hot water. Otherwise IT USES ABSOLUTELY NO POWER WHILE NO HOT WATER IS BEING USED.

Read up on the electrical demand of that in use water heater. That is the set back. Often times that in use water heater needs equipment to run it more than your entire house uses at any given time. A house with a 200 amp service may need upgraded to a 400 amp service to handle the inuse water heater.

While it does save money in electrical use it will take much heavier electrical power equipment.

You might want to check the following link, not trying to sell anything, just had that link that may be of some help.

http://www.tankless-water-heater.com/

http://www.termotronic.com/



Good Luck

Wg

[imported_marako]

If you have a gas water already why not replace it with a tankless gas heater? I've looked at both to some degree. For my situation I wanted to run multiple loads (showers, laundry, etc) so I need a decent sized unit. The big electric units draw 100-120 amps @ 240V and these might not be enough (well water at 50ish degrees). If you have a 200 amp panel that it 50-60% of your total power. You would need to do a load calculation to see if you still fit in your house. Gas heaters come in almost twice the size of electric ones. Of course you may need to upsixe your gas line.

The other thing is that electric heat is expensive, or so I'm told. Right now I have a normal electric water heater. The gas companys claim that you could save 30-40% on your electric bill switching to a normal gas water heater. I'm not sure if I beleive those numbers, but I've never heard of anybody with electric heat talking about how they like it. Every one I know wants to switch to gas ASAP if they could. Yes the electric units are 100% efficent, but you'll lose some of your savings for the higher electrical costs. Of couse the gas units are more expensive so go figure.

Just my 2 cents. I'll probably gert one when this heater calls it quits (if I can afford it).