Another Tankless Water Heater ?
Posted on | December 6, 2009 | 6 Comments
ive been searching the net for information on eletric tankless water heaters thought it would help but now im more confused than when i started. some say tankless is the good and others say no. i there someone who has switched for eletric tank to electric tankless i have a family of four (2 kids 13 and 9 girls) with about 8,000gals a month usage( dont know how average that is or not) do you notice a difference good and bad? how much money do you think on an average youve saved since youve installed it. any help would be greatly appreciated.
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6 Responses to “Another Tankless Water Heater ?”
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December 6th, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
This is just MY opinion:
Tankless water heaters are really only practical with gas. The power supply required to give a reasonable flow of water at the temperature that most people consider adequate is very expensive to provide.
Most gas tankless water heaters for “whiole house” water heating are in the 200K btu range and a 100 amp power supply would only give you about 75K btu which would give you about 140 gal per hour (approximately ) at a 70 F heat rise.
Insulate your standard electric water heater and save the installation cost of say $2500 including the cost of the power supply. I don’t think you would ever save enough to cover the cost of the conversion ( at least not for years).
This would cost you about $ 2.50 per hour assuming a $.10 per KWH rate
For comparison the gas heater gives about 380 gal per hour
The gas heater in this example (assuming a 100% efficiency which it is not) would use 2 therms per hour at a cost of $2.34 so with the efficiency loss up the flue you could estimate for comparison that they cost about the same to run per hour but you can see the difference in the amount of hot water produced.
For Point of use ( 1 faucet ) electric is practical but not for whole house.
December 6th, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
The tankless heaters I have had experience with were difficult to set up and if your water pressure varies don’t even think about buying one. I think they work fine for one or two people if there is constant water pressure. I think that buying a good quality tank heater that has good insulation would serve your needs better. I set a couple of them up one went well the other was a nightmare due to the water pressure changing frequently. A friend put one in his house and took it back as his water pressure varied. The tank style is more reliable and much easier to repair if you have a problem, the tankless cost more, require a much larger electric service and have more parts.
December 7th, 2009 @ 4:54 am
Seems to me that the value of going to a tankless system is primarily to provide a ready, unlimited source of hot water, and for that they are excellent if sized properly to the house. Yes, you’ll save money by not keeping a standard water heater tank hot all the time, but you’ll spend a lot of money to get that savings, and depending on your usage you might not recoup your costs. Gas units are the most realistic for whole-house use. Here’s why, along with some additional pros & cons of the system, according to This Old House plumbing & heating expert Richard Trethewey:http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/q…
December 7th, 2009 @ 7:39 am
The only really good reason to use a tankless water heater is when space is at a premium. If you have the room for a regular water heater, use one. Especially with a family of four people. It’s not like you aren’t using hot water on a regular basis. If you lived alone and took one shower a day and did one load of laundry a week, it might make sense to look at a tankless type…But in your situation, I would stay with a regular style water heater.
December 7th, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
i installed one for my oldest daughter,she has one daughter and husband and her,for them its perfect,now you know you can buy different styles that has more or less output,as far as saving money i know she loves hers and she has saved money don’t know the dollar amount,some people have a small storage along with the tank-less so when they start they have 15 to 20 gallons already there,and then the tank-less kicks in either way your not having to heat up 60 or so gallons and keep it hot whether your using it or not,its a tuff choice to make but i think if you really do your research you’ll choose the tankless,sounds like you are researching every thing
December 7th, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
My local plumbing supply refuses to sell electric tankless water heaters. They are not reliable enough to satisfy most people.