Electric Tankless Water Heater
- Thread starter Rockin RK
- Start date
- Views: 6246
JimRB
Veteran Member
I have a geothermal heat pump with a waste heat hot water generator. My 220v to the hot water heater is turned off about 4 months of the year. I live near Atlanta Georgia so I use a fair bit of AC. When it gets cold the generator does a fairly good job of heating up the water but not nearly as hot as in the summer. 2 people in the house. You can get those hot water generators with a standard AC or heat pump also. Note that I do not have booster heat and the geothermal keeps up ok on those rare 10F days.
kenmac
Super Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2005
- Messages
- 9,835
- Location
- The Heart of Dixie
- Tractor
- McCormick CX105 Kubota MX 5100 HST, Kubota ZD1021, Kawsaki Mule 4010 trans 4x4
For worry & virtually maintance free, less expensive to repair. I would choose a tank over tankless anyday. Your call
Kays Supply
Veteran Member
An issue not discussed is maintenance, If you live in an area that adds multiple chemicals to the water , or the water is just naturally hard, the heater requires a yearly cleaning. To hire me to do it runs about $200. If the heater isn't installed with correct fittings the first cleaning could be $300 plus. Add that into the mix and see if it will ever payoff. I have all but refused to connect them. I put the pipes out of the wall and leave it for the homeowner. When they don't function like they expect, I don't want the call back. Most of my customers want to have a recirculating pump installed. That is a real problem with the tankless. That's my 2 cents worth.
kenmac
Super Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2005
- Messages
- 9,835
- Location
- The Heart of Dixie
- Tractor
- McCormick CX105 Kubota MX 5100 HST, Kubota ZD1021, Kawsaki Mule 4010 trans 4x4
Several years ago. I went to a Rheem tankless class. At that time they were recommending 6 mo to 1 yr for servicing
PILOON
Super Star Member
I somewhere read that they could be OK if you don't have a high temp spread.
Seem to recall that 40 deg was the ideal spread.
If taking cold ground water (40 deg?) it won't be efficient due to spread, but heating southern shallow pipe water should be efficient as would be taking water from an above ground cistern which would be ambient air temp.
Also if in a northern climate and you have a power failure, better be quick at draining it as the thin copper tank will burst real quick and you'll be needing a replacement.
Seem to recall that 40 deg was the ideal spread.
If taking cold ground water (40 deg?) it won't be efficient due to spread, but heating southern shallow pipe water should be efficient as would be taking water from an above ground cistern which would be ambient air temp.
Also if in a northern climate and you have a power failure, better be quick at draining it as the thin copper tank will burst real quick and you'll be needing a replacement.
studor
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2007
- Messages
- 1,464
- Location
- Eastern Ontario
- Tractor
- Jinma 284(Spirit fel), MF 135 (MF200 fel)
If you do not have propane, natural gas or your own windmill or solar plant, tankless is a last choice. The energy consumption to heat requires very large draws and unless you want to use your electric meter as a fan, as others have said, get a tank. I looked long at tankless a few years ago when rebuilding a log cabin and decided that the additional cost for the heater, panel upgrade, wire etc far outweighed the three hundred bucks for a good tank and the cost to run it over five years or so-- JMHO
Alan L.
Elite Member
If I was all electric I would go for a good tank model. I have a propane tankless that works fine, but it cost alot more than a regular water heater and doesn't save much if any energy. Seems like it burns about $30 of propane per month. During my research my impression was that the electronic ones need a ton of juice to do their job.
On the positives side, my wife can fill her 85 gallon tub and I can shower as long as I want without running out of hot water. On the down side, there is a filter I need to clean out once a month or so, otherwise the hot water flow is noticeably reduced.
The biggest mistake I made was only putting one in the house. The kitchen is about 50 feet away and it takes quite a while to get hot water there.
The best thing is its in an outside wall and takes up zero space.
On the positives side, my wife can fill her 85 gallon tub and I can shower as long as I want without running out of hot water. On the down side, there is a filter I need to clean out once a month or so, otherwise the hot water flow is noticeably reduced.
The biggest mistake I made was only putting one in the house. The kitchen is about 50 feet away and it takes quite a while to get hot water there.
The best thing is its in an outside wall and takes up zero space.
Obed
Elite Member
We stayed at a friend's new house that had a tankless water heater. You had to turn on the faucets almost full blast in order to get hot water to come out. The tankless water heaters will not heat water unless the water flowing through the water heater is at a high enough volume. We had considered getting a tankless water heater until experiencing the flow rate issue. We often use hot water at a low flow rate while washing at the sink, rinsing dishes, etc. If you have to have the faucet wide open, you will use a lot more hot water than otherwise.
For the house we are currently building, we are looking at a 60 gallon natural gas water heater with a 7 day timer for turning off the hot water heater at night. There's a significant distance between our water heater and the bathrooms; we'll have to see how long we have to run the water to get hot water to the bathrooms. If it takes too long, we might just add a 2.5 or 6 gallon water heater close to the bathrooms. The small tank would provide for immediate hot water for washing at the sink. For baths, once the hot water in the small tank is used up, the water from the 60 gallon tank will have reached the bath.
For the house we are currently building, we are looking at a 60 gallon natural gas water heater with a 7 day timer for turning off the hot water heater at night. There's a significant distance between our water heater and the bathrooms; we'll have to see how long we have to run the water to get hot water to the bathrooms. If it takes too long, we might just add a 2.5 or 6 gallon water heater close to the bathrooms. The small tank would provide for immediate hot water for washing at the sink. For baths, once the hot water in the small tank is used up, the water from the 60 gallon tank will have reached the bath.
Jim in ICT
Gold Member
Had a Rinnai installed three years ago when we built the house. Runs off of Natural gas using city water. Sized large enough that we can have 2-1/2 showers going at once and not run out of hot water. Witha a family of four and three bathrooms available, it's rare that we have more than one going at any one time. Warmup to the showerhead is a bit longer than I'd like, but part of that is the manner in which the manifold and Pex tubing is routed. Overall, no issues or problems with it.