Water Heater Selection

[amkfken]

Time to chime in--have had a aerostar (now made by Bosch?) for 10 years, propane with pilot, in the kitchen on the wall, heat the home with a wood stove, well water, no teenagers, 2 baths, dishwasher, clothes washer, would never go to any tanked waterheater!

Am at 10,00ft elevation, Not recommended for this altitude, but works fine!

Would never consider an electric water heater of any type!

Just my opinion.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some of us don't have that luxury... the cabin is surrounded by wetlands on 3 sides and approval for heating oil or in ground propane tank (the type permitted) is not possible...

The Siemens tankless electrics work fine... that's all we've had since 1982. Started with one when the cabin had 1 bathroom and added a second with the second bath...

Some of the neighbors heat with wood... too much trouble for a cabin I figured.

My units are 380v 3 phase... so going electric was really the only option...

 

[Squeak n Itch]

For those of us up North, another consideration. For 7 months of the year the heat that is "escapes" through the walls of my tank water heater actually ends up supplying heat to the finished basement and therefore isn't wasted at all. Same argument for the old pilot light on stoves even though at our last upgrade the new sparker was standard.

 

[sld]

I recently installed a Bradford White 50 gallon 40,000 btu water heater.

With my wife and I, 2 teenagers and a 6 year old I have yet to run out of hot water. We will even take consecutive showers within an hour or so. Also alot of laundry is done and even the dishwashers seems to run all the time.

That is really the only appliance besides the furnace on gas and the summer gas bills are 40 bucks or less.

It was a 450.00 water heater that I installed. These are pretty hard numbers to beat with other methods.

I will say, in the winter it is turned all the way up but during the summer I can turn it down to 3/4. I am not sure there is anything out there that would be better.

 

[CurlyDave]

If you are on septic, avoid tankless. As has already been mentioned, it encourages longer showers.

On city water and a sewer, this will cost you money. On a septic, it will cost you lots of money.

 

[ultrarunner]

I recently installed a Bradford White 50 gallon 40,000 btu water heater.

With my wife and I, 2 teenagers and a 6 year old I have yet to run out of hot water. We will even take consecutive showers within an hour or so. Also alot of laundry is done and even the dishwashers seems to run all the time.

That is really the only appliance besides the furnace on gas and the summer gas bills are 40 bucks or less.

It was a 450.00 water heater that I installed. These are pretty hard numbers to beat with other methods.

I will say, in the winter it is turned all the way up but during the summer I can turn it down to 3/4. I am not sure there is anything out there that would be better.

I've never had a bad Bradford White Gas Heater and it's the only one I will buy for my Property Management Business. CA changed to Sealed Combustion Water Heaters and I had no end of troubles with other brands...

By going with a high output, 40,000 Btu heater the recovery time is shorter... good move on your part.

Most people only shop by tank size... I always look for recovery rate or how many gallons of water can the heater produce with a given temperature rise...

Sometimes the high recovery units will require up sizing the vent to 4"

Had an application where the only heater that would physically fit was a 20 gallon tank type... I specified a unit that made 45 gallons per hour and never had a problem...

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Both heating types would benefit from pre-heating the incoming water. Often times the waste water is recirculated to a wrapped pre-tank. A sort of heat exchanger system. A dummy tank for the incoming water lessens the delta temp for both situations. This is especially effective for tank less systems that rely on the temp of the incoming water.

 

[Alan L.]

I wanted to be energy efficient so we put the big Rennai tankless propane water heater in our new house. Just one unit for 2200 square feet, 3 bath house. But its only the Mrs. and me most of the time.

If I had it to do over again, I would consider tank heaters, but I'm not sure.

I bought a propane tank and use propane ONLY for hot water, otherwise I could be fully electric.

The tankless does make an endless supply of hot water. However there are disadvantages:

1) With propane I figure its costing about $40 a month for hot water - about the same as an electric tank heater. I thought the savings would be more.

2) There is a delay of about 20 seconds before you get any hot water, even in the bath right next to the heater.

3) There is a filter for incoming water that clogs up and then you get very little hot water.

4) You have to turn on the hot water at least half-way or you get none.

5) When you turn the water on, then off, its seems it takes longer to get hot water again.

6) When a second faucet goes on, the guy in the shower gets a surprise. However it does recover and furnish water for the second and third faucet.

7) This thing was $1500 more than a conventional hot water heater. And, when it goes out, it will cost alot to replace. Plus I probably can't replace it myself.

Advantages:

1) I didn't have to use up any square footage for the unit. Its in an outside wall and vents directly outside.

2) You never run out of hot water. Especially important since we have a big jacuzzi tub that takes alot of hot water to fill up.

3) I can take a long shower and not run out of hot water.