Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 My water heater is 16 years old and has a gas leak. It is due for replacement. I would like to replace it with a tankless ("on demand"??) water heater. Todd (the gas guy who found the leak) said that that might save me money because I live alone and wouldn't be paying to keep a 50 gal tank warm day and night. I know this would cost more than just replacing a water heater. Any suggestions??? thanks pards!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Logan #12252 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Although I'm to old to build a new house, but if it were to happen, thats all we would have, they are very common in Spain, Germany, Finland, etc, just not to popular here, simply because of demand, go for it. Our last heater was 40 yers old befor a leak, but I fear the new ones are NOT made as well as the older ones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S. Quentin Quale, Esq. SASS 9953 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I looked at these some time back. My research was for a new water heater for the barn and I conentrated on electric 'cause I didn't want gas in the barn. Some of my findings might be relevant. First, review your own water use. How ofen do you run the dishwasher while taking a shower or running the clothes washer? This is an area to look at for a reason we'll see in a minute. How cold is your input water? This, too, is important. If you look at the performance specs. for these things the amount that they can heat a stream of water varies with flow, input temp., and heat source. Electric has some very serious limitations, even if you're using 220V. Gas, natural or propane, does much better. Still, with a standard tank you can run full bore 'till the tank is empty and the temp. won't change. With an "on demand" unit the higher the flow the less time it has to heat water and the lower the output temp. That's why you have to take a look at your usage. The price of propane has gone way up (I know 'cause heat with it ). The price of electrity is bad, but better in our area (East TN). When I replaced the barn unit it was a 30 gal. conventional unit. My math said that the electric unit I was looking at was more expensive to put in and, based upon usage, it would take me between 5 and 7 years to break even. You might run some numbers and see if the same works for you. When I was at Home Depot I also looked at some of the ultra-high effeciency hot water heaters. They are nice and are less expensive to run, but they were 3-4 times the cost of a conventional unit. Even with a tax credit it would have taken me 12-15 years to break even. By then I'd likely need a new unit!!! The market now gives a lot of choice but also means a lot of evaluation (and math ). Good luck in making your choice. SQQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelgun luke Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Marshall, I built a new house about 7 years ago and put in a tankless water heater. I got a Bosch natural gas unit from Lowes and it cost about $600 as best I can remember. That is on the cheaper end of the tankless water heaters if you haven't researched them yet. The pro to is that we have a large garden tub and if we want to fill it, the water heater does not run out of hot water before it is full. The disadvantages are exactly as SQQ hit upon - depending on how you have the water heater set, it will heat the incoming water up by so many degrees. In other words if I have it set on low, it will heat the water up 25 deg and if it is on high it will heat the water up 60 degrees (i don't know the temps exactly - just estimating). I think that the setting is actually just adjusting how fast the water flows through the coils to accomplish this - so on high the water does not flow as fast and has more time to heat. This works fine for the tub since we can just run the hot water and then adjust with how much cold water we add to get the right temp in the end. However, for the shower it tends to be a problem. It appears that if I leave it set on high during the warmer part of the year (I am in Texas) that it has a safety built in so if the water is heating too hot it will cut off until the coils have cooled down some. So if you leave it on high and the ambient temp in the attic is warm you will get surges in the hot water, making it very hard to get a comfortable setting. So, I have to go up in the attic throughout the year to adjust the setting to try to match the temp we need it to heat to, and it is still hard to get right. This part is a real PITA. All that said, I think there are more expensive units that are probably more sophisticated that would work better ($2,000+) and have a remote to change the setting. But then are you really saving any money? Hope this helps. Wheelgun Luke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Thanks for your evaluation. I did some research. I live alone and never start the dishwasher before taking a shower, if I did I would be the one to suffer, the d/w will heat its own water if the incoming water is not hot enough, it is also quite thrifty about when it discards the hot water so that's not bad. In NH the average cost of electricity is 16.19c /Kwh, almost double the Tennessee average. I'm sure I pay more than average just because that's the way it always works out. So we get down to the cost of BTUs. My propane casts me $2.40 gal this year. How many BTUs per gallon? The Dept. of Energy says 91,330. The American Gas Association says 91,600. 381 BTUs for a penny. Electricitry costs me 16.19c. 1 kWh = 3412.3 BTU. 213 BTUs per penny. Also, considering the ability of Propane to heat water faster, I should go with Propane. ========== I have a friend who had an electric hot water heater delivered to them by mistake. The shipper reshipped the gas heater that was ordered and told them to keep the electric for free. it wasn't worth the price of having it returned. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_BTU'...e#ixzz1ASWB0TxG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S. Quentin Quale, Esq. SASS 9953 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Marshall, your propane cost is 15% less than mine. For your use and location (NH) the propane route is the way to go. Let us know how it works out! SQQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Pony Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Mo we looked at these for the camp and I'm thinking of doing the same when I replace household water heater but then I'm also looking at replacing furnace at the same time. One of the models we looked at was neat in that nothing was running when the unit was off. An impeller gets spun up by city water pressure and sparks the igniter which kicks off the heating process. With the price of fuel oil going up the switch is looking more attractive. Also advised by a couple of dealers that the tax credit will be put back in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U B Mountain #40498 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Marshall Ellie Mae did not say anything when I showed her this post.. However..IF LOOKS COULD KILL! All the Mountains have used this item and on a scale of 1 to 10 it rates at least a -6. You either have hot water ..fir a while or you are standing/sitting around waiting for hot water. It waste a lot of nice cold water. Our humble opinion. And if I may quote Col Dan 'Just our view from the saddle". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Hi Brother Mo! We have one. I'd say that I take a shower close to daily at the same time the DW is running. The only problem we've had was with a LG washer. The thing made the tankless water heater turn on and off 23 times. (No exaggeration, the repairman counted 23 also). As I told the dealer we had a tankless when we bought it, they refunded our money on both the w&d as they were both LG. Regards, Sister Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaky Gun Runner SASS 79775 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 We built a cabin in Oklahoma at the Falls Creek Baptist Assembly grounds. The cabin is used by us or rented out 8 weeks a year during the summer and many other weeks in the fall in winter for adult retreats and activities. Our cabin sleeps 138 people, has a full kitchen, and a laundry. When the kids are up in the morning, the showers stay on constantly for about an hour. We also are preparing food at this time and the laundry may or may not be going. We have two tank-less units in the cabin. One for the boys side and the laundry and the other does the girls and the kitchen. We never run out of hot water. Both units are commercial and they both run on propane. So, I am a believer. Those kids crank on the water and just stand in there. Boys are bad as the girls (or vice versa) and we go through a LOT of hot water. Not one complaint about water temperature going on 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Darlin' Sneaky, Any building that sleeps 138 people doesn't seem like a cabin... Geez with that many folks, our well would go dry before we'd run out of hot water. Regards, Allie Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Marshall, your propane cost is 15% less than mine. For your use and location (NH) the propane route is the way to go. I buy a year's supply in June, I'm ahead of the game 9 years out of 11. and I get a 1% veteran's discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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