Hot Water

In the winter, the tankless has to heat 35 degree water into 100 degree water almost instantly as water is going through the heating element at 3 gallons per minute. This means you have to have an extra space in your fusebox to handle another 30 AMP breaker. It needs 60 to 80 AMPS to heat up that water. That’s the deal breaker often times as people feel it’s not worth the initial installation cost to get the heater. As for utility cost, it does work because 95% of the energy goes into heating the water. But in the winter, you may not get that Steamy piping hot water people likes, it comes out warmish hot.

-- Thuan

Thuan, you have a beautiful home with all the native trees and plants. If you live in Dallas, then you know, it doesn’t get very cold in Houston. Dallas does get quite a bit colder than here(Houston), I lived in Dallas in the late 70’s. I do have room in my main breaker box to expand, and am really thinking about the tank-less WH. Thank you for your feedback, since it doesn’t get very cold here during the winter, I think the tank-less is just the ticket…....Last year, we never turned on our heater. We had a small space heater.

-- The valiant never taste of death but once!

Top, I’ve installed a propane on demand hot water heater in my house, so I don’t know if we’re comparing apples and oranges here, but I’m happy with the way mine works so far. I bought the smallest unit, which produces 3.0 gallons per minute. I had the same concerns as Thuan at first, because our water gets pretty cold in the winter. The factory setting is 125 degrees, which is working good. I can set it up to 140 if I need to. We lived in an old house in Maine for 10 years and got into the habit of not running hot water elsewhere in the house when someone is taking a shower, so I think this will work fine for us. I bought the Tagaki brand, which was about $500. I know there are some Chinese ones on Ebay for around $200. Just shop around. By the way, the propane consumption is way off the low end of the efficiency charts. Thuan raise some interesting questions about the electrical draw. But you’re right about the water being warmer down south. Our water is so warm here in the summer, the heater may barely come on.

-- Tim - http://www.tmuli.com

I have a Ranai tankless and love it.It runs on natural gass with electronic ignition. It was very expensive to install and does have its own circuit.

The other drawback is that it takes about 30 – 60 seconds to send hot water to the furthest part of the house. On the upside it never runs out of hot water (unless the power goes out), is tiny (which freed space in the basement), and uses gas only when in use(no pilot).
The gas bill has gone down, but not enough to cover the cost of the machine.

-- John. Weird..(shakes head). This place seems strangely familliar. Huh.. (Shrugs)....Oh well..

Thanks everyone for your input, I think with the temperate climates here even during the winter, and the up cost to the tankless WH, with the added electrican cost( I have a 200 amp service) that is surely the way to go, especially with some of the cold climes you guys live in…......tankless here I come!

-- The valiant never taste of death but once!

My Bro-in-law recently built a new house and is heating the whole (appx 3000 sq.ft.) thing with a tankless water heater, using a radiant floor heating system. This is a double unit, one side heats the house, the other heats water for bathing, and it runs on propane. The units are not cheap but can easily be installed if you’re handy in plumbing/electric. Try and locate the heater as close as possible to your sinks and you’ll eliminate the “wait time” for the hot water.

Radiant floor heating is supposed to be appx 40% more effecient than any other. I’ll be doing the same here come summer.

-- Dadoo!

Reading this http://www.enonhall.com/html/journal0107.html kind of put me off of tankless water heaters

Thanks Zach for your input. I read your blog, and have had some of the same problems you had. In my construction trailer we have small tank-less water heaters. I never noticed noise before but temp. fluctuations are definitely noticeable. I am on city water, and my current water heater is only about 5 years old, so if I make the jump and go tank less, I think I’ll keep the old stand by in case I decide to go back.

-- The valiant never taste of death but once!

If you can, install the heater closest to the area where you will be using the hot water the most. All of my plumbing is fairly close together, except the kitchen, and the dishwasher heats it’s own water.

-- Tim - http://www.tmuli.com

Installed the tankless before but I personaly do not have one. A way for you to cut back on your elelctric bill might but what things you have pluged in. Example leaving you computer on draws more power than a running tv. And all those plug in air freshers, cell phone chargers, anything that has a transformer is using poer even if its not being used. Another example tv’s, dvd players, cd players,.... even in off mode or power saver mode some still draw nearly half or a third of the power as when they are turned on. Get clamp on amp metter and check the leads comming into your breaker box. Turn everything on in your house like you were staying home, see how many amps your pulling, then shut everything off like you were gone or sleeping and see how much electricity your still using. I’m sure this won’t change things dramaticaly, but it might help.

-- Adams Construction, www.adamsconstructionllc.com