Posted on 02/22/2015 8:59:13 AM PST by Mean Daddy
If it’s been a while since you took stock of the age and vitality of your water heater, now would be a good time to do so.
Mechanical rooms and homeowners’ appliance budgets are about to get more cramped after April 16, when the latest round of federal standards stipulating increased energy efficiency of residential water heaters takes effect.
The standards stem from a 1987 Department of Energy law called the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act.
Water heater manufacturers are responding with energy-saving additions like advanced electronics, more insulation and heat pumps, which means new units promise to get taller, wider and more complicated than their less-efficient predecessors.
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
I am completely skeptical of all the newer, “more efficient” appliances, after getting new front loading washing machine and a new dishwasher that don’t clean worth a damn.
They’re not supposed to be “efficient” at doing their respective jobs, only “efficient” in miniscule savings of water or power...
Now do your part for the Fatherland and Mother Gaia and become accustomed to doing with less...prole.
My tankless has been going strong for about 7 years. The hot water temperature is very stable and never runs out.
For about 9 months out of the year, my gas bill is about 1/3 what it was with a 30 gallon water heater.
Have had a gas tankless for 7 or 8 years. We absolutely love it. We spent more initially than a traditional tank-type, but it has now more than paid for itself in savings.
We went with a Takagi unit (Japanese), which was (and is) considered a higher-end brand. Mine was at the top of the consumer/homeowner units, about on par with their lower-level commercial units.
Pros: (1) you never run out of hot water. You can have 10 house-guests, and the water is as hot for the last as it is for the first; (2) they cost less to run: you only heat water when you need to, not wasting energy on keeping the tank hot; (3) it’s compact: my tank-type heater was the traditional 4-5’ high, 2.5’ around, up on a stand. The Takagi is the size of a carry-on suitcase and mounts on the wall.
Cons: (1) initial expense (unit itself, venting, bigger gas-line from meter to unit); (2) useful flow is lower: you can’t expect to run 3 high-demand fixtures simultaneously and get water that is hot enough. This isn’t a problem in our empty-nest household. Any adjustments are not worse (and arguably better) than schedule adjustments made sharing the limited hot water in the tank-type.
Would do it again in a heart-beat.
I installed a Takagi Jr. propane tankless back when oil shot up to over $4/gallon here in the northeast. Paid ~$400 for it on ebay. It’s been trouble free - going on about 8 years.
Family is 4. It has 3 temp settings. I keep it on the lowest one. Full hot on the shower is hot enough for me in dead of winter (wife would like hotter). 2 showers running at the same time would be too much for the Jr. model. Been filling 100 lb propane tanks at the local hay & feed store myself. (propane companies are way too expensive). $65 per tank for the last 4 years. A 100lb tank (23.6 gal) lasts me ~ 9 weeks in summer, ~7 weeks in winter.
Ditto.
I’ve had mine for 8 years but I also have a water softener.
Water is undrinkable in Houston.
I live in Ecuador and tankless gas HW heaters are used a lot here. Mine costs $270 and will heat 20l of water per minute. I have it turned down all the way and the water is too hot to touch once it starts coming through the tap. The bad news is there must be sufficient water flow to keep the flame going so if you mix in cold you may turn the HW flow down enough to turn it off. In short maintaining a comfortable flow is not easy. Even harder if your cold water supply is very cold which mine is not. All in all its a good thing here but I’d rather have a stainless steel condensing gas HW heater.
Did you DIY?
The Japs do not have west Texas water so hard you could almost walk on it. The mineral content is so high it coats the heating elements on point of use systems, the efficiency goes down and they require de-mineralizing quite often. I have several friends who bought the BS and they all say do not get one.
Now, I suppose they would work with a whole house RO installed but the cost is prohibitive for us plain working stiffs, so a natural gas old fashioned water heater is about our only choice and drain the heater once a month works about as good as it gets here.
I always say to enviros that complain we use too much bottled drinking
water and tap water is just fine to come on down and I will show you how good our tap water is. One swallow and they are reaching for Dasani bottles.
If you do install a tankless and have hard water, be sure to pipe in diverter valves to flush. The flush is pretty easy with lime-away, a small sump pump and a 5 gallon bucket.
I installed everything myself and it was about the same level of effort that is required to install a hot water heater. Extra costs are about $100-150 for diverter valves (2X) and an electric pump to flush. I keep the flush kit in the attic with the heater. The controlloer has a standard flush cycle built in.
“tankless = prohibitively expense.”
Yes, they are expensive. But they have an unusually long lifespan. We’ve had one in our primary residence since 2002 and it hasn’t missed a beat. In that timeframe, we’ve had to replace the tank type heater in our second home twice, so the cost evens out eventually. Actually, the bigger expense is getting enough gas supply so that they operate properly and having to vent them with pressure-tight flues. We actually had our public utility come by to check our gas meter and when the tech found out we had a tankless, he put in a larger meter at no charge. I actually haven’t seen any difference in performance but I guess if other gas-consuming appliances ( i.e clothes dryer and furnaces) were on at the same time it might make a difference.
BFL
“One I have is 10+ years old. Probably should think about getting one and keep in storage for when it goes out. The gubmint loves us and know what’s best for us. “
That goes for everything in your home that uses water, gas, or electricity. Better go up to Canada and buy yourself some “black market” toilets or get the mfr. to sell you new “guts” for them, because the low-flow ones are guaranteed to plug up your sewer.
At 54 amps at 240 volts you should check your homes electric power capability. You may have to upgrade the electric service to add a tankless heater due to the peak power requirement of the tankless.
The controller has an automatic flush cycle.
One extra cost not mentioned in my earlier post was was for the oversized gas line. In order to feed the entire house you need lots of BTUs during peak demand. Code irequired a 1.5 inch gas line which I cut, threaded and pressure tested myself. The cost of running the larger gas line could be pricey if you are a code person. The oversized line is overkill.
Rinsing tankless. Ours has been flawless for 4 years. Never run out of hot water, and it gets hotter than I can stand. My wife likes it so hot I think my skin is going to blister.
I took the old water tank style heater and filled it with water & antifreeze. Makes a great weight for the tandem disk plow.......
“We have PG&E here in the SF Bay area and gas bills are pretty high. My Tankless is in the attic which gets the nasty water heater out of the garage.”
I guess you must live in a different water district. We have EBMUM water and it’s only a couple of grains hard. Our tankless went in in 2002 and we’ve never had to do anything to it. Our original water heater was in a closet in our pantry taking up about a third of the floorspace. Now the tankless is in a cabinet on the wall in that same room, so we have a lot more space for stuff we would like to have near our kitchen.
I thought I was the only one who thought the phrase was absurd. We don’t drink at the cold water cooler.
Believe me, I know - lived there for 13 years.....love Houston but not a fan of the water!
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