Tankless ele. water heater.

[Robert_in_NY]

What type of heater do you have in your house? Up here there are a lot of boilers and there is a water tank that hooks up to the boiler. The tank is called a Boilermate and you can get some more info from their site Boilermate website . Regular hot water tanks have a 6 year warranty, this tank has a lifetime warranty and by using the boiler for its heat source actually helps prolong the life of the boiler as it gets used year round instead of just during the winter. It runs of its own zone so when the tank calls for heat the boiler runs. Also, it is 99% efficient but it can only be as efficient as the boiler so if you have a 92% efficient boiler your hot water tank is the same which is much higher then standard hot water tanks which means you save money in the end. If this don't work for you then maybe someone else can use the info

 

[dmccarty]

Kenny,

What slowrev said as well as we only have space for one heater. Even it two would work money wise we ended up not having the space for two tanks.

Later,
Dan

 

[slowrev]

Don,
The tankless heaters are triggered by flow I think and if this is true the water would just keep getting hotter in the loop untill something failed or an overheat safety tripped in the tankless heater. Or at least this is my thinking on what would happen with tankless heaters in a recirculating loop.

MIght go boom !!

Ben

 

[Charolais]

Robert I'd sure like to have a system like that. I heat the house mainly with wood(stove is outside in a building but doesn't use water) but do use some LP for back up. Now I heat the hot water with the standard electric tank type water heater. Where I live the well water temp. is 63 deg. I just checked that last week. The dish washer we have has a heater built in it so that's not a problem.

I read the instructions with the tankless heater I ordered and it stated not to run preheated water in to the inlet.

I'm gonna give this tankless heater a try. If it doesn't work for me I have a plan for it. If it does work I still may add a small 30 gal. tank type heater. My PTO generator won't run the tankless model. To many amps. We sometimes get lots of sleet and freezing rain in my area and I want to be prepared for power outages too.

Thank you all for lots of ideas and a great discussion. The thinking caps and light bulbs are on. With enegery prices the way they are now it's time to start trimming where ever we can. I don't see those prices heading down any time soon.

In my area we just had the tobacco quota buyout bill pass. Many tobacco farmers won't continue growing now. There are lots of bulk barns that use wood fired heaters(boilers) with the hot water system. I'm gonna keep my eye on those when the auctions start. I may be able to get one at a good price then. There's going to be lots of sales like that next year in this area.

 

[GregMVT]

Is there any reason you can't use a propane tankless heater? We have one in that was already in the house when we bought it two years ago. It is really great and satisifies all our hot water needs, and doesn't require any electricity. It is made by Paloma. Our primary heat is propane though we have a wood stove that we burn as much as possible. Even with propane prices up as high as they are now it's still cheaper than electric. I would certainly check into a propane unit as long as you are looking. It would save you the additional expense/labor/space of hooking up a backup tank.