Tankless water heater

[BillG_in_TX]

Duane,

I stopped by a home builder's model home down in Central Texas last month. He's really focusing on energy efficiency, and his houses all have Seisco tankless water heaters.

The Seisco literature claims that they have solved the mineral buildup problem, and eliminated the "flickering lights" that other tankless water heaters generate. I don't know if what they claim is true, but they do go into great detail on this page.

However, what was really intruiging to me was that he was matching it up with a MANABLOC manifold plumbing system. It utilizes PEX tubing and has separate hot and cold lines running to every appliance and fixture.

To me, this looks like an ideal system for new construction.

 

[NIXON]

I put in a Takagi TK1 when I built about 4 years ago .
So far no regrets . It supplies the house with hot water no matter how many hot water demands are on it at the time .
You can select the water temp from 105-167 deg. with the push of a button. Initial start up Btu's are 167 k. but it drops down as the heater catches up with demand . John

 

[Richard]

I just now stumbled onto this thread because the wifey wants one of these things.

Lemme ask another question, here's the setup:

Basement currently unfinished, she wants to add a large, multi head shower in it and wants one of these tankless heaters for it.

Just the two of us, it will be a 2 1/2 bath house when this bath is done.

Would it be better for me to put one of these in for this shower, or would it make sense for me to just eliminate our 50 gal, 6 year old traditional water heater?

I'd HAVE to have an electric model. I saw something about 50amp breaker somewhere. I'd rather use the 30 (and swap that breaker/wire out for 50 amp capablity) instead of ADDING another breaker in my already cramped service panel.

I REALLY poo-poo'ed this idea to her, then I smugly came to my favorite internet information bank and read NOTHING but glowing reports on these things.

seems the mud is on MY face /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I'll never admit it to her though /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[_RaT_]

I tried a tankless years ago. It was terrible. Obviously, things must have improved. I did not get a energy savings to speak of, my natural gas bill did not change noticeably. It was about a 180,000 btu model, don't remember the brand but am very reluctant to try one again. The new super insulated water heaters certainly stay hot much longer then the old figeglass insulated tank style before needing to be reheated.
The advantage of tankless as I would see is slightly less energy costs. The disadvantage would be relatively small GPM flow. I will look into the model you have for our guest house which is where I would think they would be a real bonus.

PS, out here gas is incredibly cheaper for heating, electric does not even compete. If you don't have natural gas, you go propane, very few folks use electric heat for water or home heating.

 

[kenmac]

I work for a gas utility down here in the south , I come across very few tankless water heaters.Drawbacks are: they burn alot of gas when they are in use 180-200,000 btu. they require elect to operate - generaly don't last as long as a tank type w.h. I have found that the combustion chambers burn out because of the high btu.imput of the water heaters.With a gas tank type w. h. you will have hot water electricy or not.

 

[_RaT_]

That is what my tankless seemed to exhibit. The burn was intense, it required a 6" flue and it did have some pretty hot exit gasses. It seemed that there was a considerable waste when the demand was there. Whether that was more the the 2 or 3 reheats that a tank heater will need during the day, I do not know. As far as running out of hot water, I find it a bit of a mixed blessing. If someone is using that much hot water, I'd rather they get out of the shower then to continue providing them with more hot water. Even with a load of wash and the dishwasher going, we have plenty of hot water for at least 2 showers with a 30 gallon propnae heater. I still want to look into the tankless for our guest house.

 

[kenmac]

The way the people in my house take showers if they didnot run out of hot water they wouldnot get out. A tankless may save some folkes money,but it would cost me because everyone would take longer showers. There are very few working parts to a gas tank type w.h. I like to keep it simple. less parts breakon tank type gas.

 

[SnowRidge]

September 2001 -- We spent a few nights in B&B on Whidbey Island, WA. The owner had recently install a new 220V tankless water heater. Unfortunately, I don't remember the brand name.

I hated the thing. It would only come on if the flow rate was near max. If you were taking a shower and turned the water down a bit, you got instant cold water. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Same with the sink, you had to have the hot on full, while you modulated the temperature with the cold water tap.

I opened the thing up and looked for some sort of adjustment, but I didn't see a thing that could be adjusted. My recommendation would be to look for several positive user recommendations before buying one.

 

[_RaT_]

Thats right, our old tankless would actually turn the flame down so low that it no longer would sufficiently keep the water at the right temperature. It would sometimes end up pulsating. I have to imagine todays newer models must be improved.

 

[SnowRidge]

_RaT_, the one I'm referring to would only be a few years old by now, and it was electric. As I indicated, I can't recall the make, but I do remember it was a recognizable brand. The B&B's proprietor even cautioned us about it when we checked in, so he was aware of its shortcomings.

It really soured me on the whole concept.