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Tankless water heaters

I

it's just me

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Does anybody have an electric tankless water heater? How does it work for you?
 
it's just me said:
Does anybody have an electric tankless water heater? How does it work for you?
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Never had an electric. Had gas ones in CA and worked great. If you are retrofitting, make sure you have enough available capacity in your breaker panel. You will need a 30Amp 1PH circuit for each heater.
 
A guy I work with used one, he liked it alot

I have seen them used in China, and they were good (Chinese brands like Hisense) from what I was told durable and had been working for 6 years (would be 9 years now) without having to be replaced.

Considering that the traditional one (Rheem)I have which is only 3 years old will likely need the blower motor system replaced soon, that is pretty good
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
A guy I work with used one, he liked it alot

I have seen them used in China, and they were good (Chinese brands like Hisense) from what I was told durable and had been working for 6 years (would be 9 years now) without having to be replaced.

Considering that the traditional one (Rheem)I have which is only 3 years old will likely need the blower motor system replaced soon, that is pretty good
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Were the Chinese ones gas or electric?
 
Don't have one but talked to a guy who installs them. For the price, I am not sure it is worth it in the retrofit plus you still have to wait for the warm water to get between the device and the spigots so you are still wasting water unless you install one for every spigot.
 
backpacker said:
Don't have one but talked to a guy who installs them. For the price, I am not sure it is worth it in the retrofit plus you still have to wait for the warm water to get between the device and the spigots so you are still wasting water unless you install one for every spigot.
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Yeah, I thought they ran on house current, my wife tells me they don't, so you have to have an electrician and a plumber install them. Sounds like a high initial expense.
 
camlok said:
Were they outside hung or was the climate cold enough that they needed to be inside?
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They were inside, in the bathroom at least for that family. Some people had solar water heaters with tanks on the roof of the building as well
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
They were inside, in the bathroom at least for that family. Some people had solar water heaters with tanks on the roof of the building as well
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That sounds like then that the climate wasn't a particularly cold one. What latitude?
 
camlok said:
That sounds like then that the climate wasn't a particularly cold one. What latitude?
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Just outside of Beijing, so about -10 C in the winter and 35 C in the summer
 
110V won't cut it, you'll need at minimum 220V service and depending on which brand/model you choose may need 60 amps or more for the unit alone, they do sell units with less demand but that comes at a price of flow and temp.

I have a NG unit and am happy with it, I have a 40 gal tank in my other home and I also never run out of water using it even with 2 girls and a wife in the house.
 
I have installed a lot of them. Only gas ones here - electricity is too expensive. Most people like them - they won't keep up if you have more than one shower going at a time (you can adjust for that but it means bigger gas lines) In Europe they use several throughout the house to combat that problem. Also mineral build up can be an issue if you have hard water. Overall they do work well and most people are satisfied.
 
Gas on demand systems are about 50% more efficient than electric systems. Both are more expensive to install than storage heated water systems, by as much as 80%. The next wave in technology is hybrid, with water storage heated by solar panels, also used to run building heating and air-conditioning systems, with gas powered on demand systems. The German company Miele, known for its vacuums, whiteware and appliances, has a system on the design boards, incorporating gas powered demand systems at water terminals (i.e. sinks, washing machines, showers and tubs), solar panel powered storage systems which incorporate home and AC with stored heating systems which the demand systems also use to reduce energy use for final water heating use at the terminals. They are expected to partner with a Chinese plumbing OEM and a Chinese solar panel company. Currently, China is the largest and most active market for these systems, with Europe catching up. The only significant American competitor on the horizon is GE and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

We recently installed a GE system in a luxury spec house we built in Columbia County NY. Each of the 9 bathrooms and the secondary kitchen on the third floor, as well as the third kitchen on the outdoor 1st floor deck, has its own 7.5 rated GPM gas system. The main kitchen has 15 rated GPM gas system. Storage piping for solar heated water can hold up to 450 gallons, which are used to heat the house, heat the indoor pool, and for melting snow and ice on the property's sidewalks and driveways, as well as work the passive AC system come summer. Water is supplied from 2 springs which pass through the property to the Hudson River and three wells, one with 24/7 vacuum pumping system. Very efficient. The plumbing installation was more expensive than the hardware. The return in energy efficiency tax write offs, the actual energy efficiency, will amortize the installation and hardware costs within 7 years. The 12 car garage uses a geothermal heating and humidity control system, with spillover energy conduits to the main house and guest cottage. As developers, the price increase for the property having used this technology netted us a 4.5% increased profit ratio. This property two years in development from the closing of the land acquisition, sold 3 months before construction completion with a 12% premium above the initial asking price after a bidding war between 22 active buyers.

All these systems require descaling on a monthly basis for preventative maintenance.
 
Well, thanks for the replies everybody, my intention was to free up some space in my storage area by getting rid of the tank water heater, but it sounds like more trouble (and money) than it's worth.
 
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