Tankless Water Heater

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agro1

Guest
I've got a 40 gal water heater that needs to be replaced and am considering going to a tankless water heater. I know with all the DIY'ers on here, somebody must have experience with these new tankless heaters. Any thoughts or reccomendations would be appreciated. This is the one I'm looking at:

http://www.tanklesswater.com/product_250SX-NG.htm

TIA
 

Robbie

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,463
1
NOVA
we have one in the upstairs apartment of my dad's garage. i will need to get the size and manufacturer, but I am not a fan. While taking a shower, it's really hard to keep the temp at a constant level. it is constantly fluctuating between cold and scalding hot.
 

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nosivad_bor

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2004
6,059
63
Pittsburgh, PA
i've used them in sevral easter european hotels and houses. they were mounted in the bathroom and , roughly loud as a blow torch. if you are doing it up for your home only i would think if you stashed it in the basement and with newer technology it's pretty quite.

i will say that the unlimited hot water supply it provides can make for longer showers.
 
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agro1

Guest
Thanks guys...Robbie that's a sweet looking place. I think the older models were pretty tempermental as you suggest, but the newer one's are supposed to work really well. Again, I've only heard this and that's the exact type of info I'm looking for. Thanks again for the feedback guys...
 
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Jennifer

Guest
Luke, in Bay of LA, the place we stay at has Bosch H2O heaters in each BR and as the guy before said, tough time maintaining temp. From scalding to freezing. However, there's other ones on the market and one of our friends has one at home in Coronado and LOVES it. will try to find out more. let me know. i would like to do same thing at our place in Mt Helix, Cantina El Bajari. I'm sure you've heard about the pool??? ;)
 
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agro1

Guest
Jennifer said:
Luke, in Bay of LA, the place we stay at has Bosch H2O heaters in each BR and as the guy before said, tough time maintaining temp. From scalding to freezing. However, there's other ones on the market and one of our friends has one at home in Coronado and LOVES it. will try to find out more. let me know. i would like to do same thing at our place in Mt Helix, Cantina El Bajari. I'm sure you've heard about the pool??? ;)

Thanks Jennifer - I'd like to know the model of the Bosch that can't maintain temp if you can get it...and the model of the one your friend is happy with.
I'm still up in the air about these things...A new water heater will last 10 years ( and be a few hundred bucks cheaper) and I'll prob be out of this house by then.


Don't get me started about your new "pool"/water crossing ;)
 
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Brian...

Guest
Tankless Hot Water Heater

I've been looking at these:

http://www.buytankless.com/store.html?cat=Products

But it really depends on how you have the system setup. I've seen people use these for both radiant floor systems and bathrooms, but if it is not installed correctly, its not worth the effort at all. The radiant floor system guy doesn't want anything to do with the tankless system and the plumber wants nothing to do with the radiant floor system, so you end up with a really messed up flow process that is less than ideal. Find a plumber who has done this before and check their references to guarantee they know how to plumb a good system.

If you happen to have any chemical or process engineering friends buy them some beers and have them take a look at your setup and they should be able to outline a simple process diagram to get you going since it is just a bunch of heat exchangers anyway.

If you are getting surges in temperature, it is probably due to the inability of the system to maintain the required temperature consistently either due to the length in which the heated water has to travel, the inability in the system to heat the incoming water at the given flowrate or both. There are several solutions that could alleviate this problem but since it is dependent upon how your current system is configured, I would just be grasping at straws at this point.
 

Reed

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
148
0
75
Bonny Doon, CA
I have an Aquastar in my house. I love it and can't imagine how much propane I have saved over the years by having it instead of a tank. I had mine installed by a plumbing contractor that had a lot of experience with them. The output is enough that two showers could run at the same time, but the water pressure might be a little low when that happens.
Also I have it installed in a closet upstairs, and never hear it when it is on, even burniong at full throttle.

The only thing I am dreading is when the heater pipes finally clog up because of the water mineralization I have.


Love those long showers ;)
 

marc olivares

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
3,535
0
i've got a Bosch Aquastar in my house, and i love it....
unlimited hot water w/ no standing 50 gllon tank or constant flame what's not to love.
i however have not had any problems with maintaining temperature.
if your having temp issues it could be how it was set up. single fixture units need constant pressure around 70psi, where as multi fixture units can handle much lower pressures.
pressure fluxuations tend to drop temps.
best friends a plumber so i got way more info than i ever wanted. ;)
 

Roverless

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2005
83
0
49
Atlanta, GA (Literally)
Tanless Electric Water Heater

Loydster, They do make one. http://www.tanklesswater.com/product_AE125.htm We've been looking at one of these for a friends house down in savanah. Right now the Hotwater heater is about 100ft outside of the house having it take about 5 minutes before the hot water can make it to the house. She only has one Full bath and the kitchen sink so it should put out enough hot water for her. It's a matter of money and oportunity right now. It's a matter of waiting for the current 30 year old water heater to go out :( Then we can get her a tankless in the house and free up more of her front yard space :)
 

alex3324

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2004
510
0
Valhalla I am coming home!
Bear in mind that I am not a plumber or a know much about fluid dynamics, I would imagine that temperature fluctuations in the single-fixture (bathroom mounted type) are due to the shower nozzle being too close to the heater. When there are water pressure fluctuations and the heater can't keep up with the increased flow, you'll get cooler water, or hotter water in low presure situations.


Likewise, in a whole-house heater, there is generally a longer pipe run for the heated water to travel and more of a chance to equalize temperature fluctuations before exiting at the shower nozzle.

Does my logic sound right-on or is it skewed?

Thread hijack alert: Does anyone have any real-life data on how much $ you save per month using the tankless vs. the tanked variety?
 
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D Chapman

Guest
I understand these are "good" http://www.foreverhotwater.com/

However, I installed a a timer on my Elec. 40 gal water heater $100.00. It cuts off at 10pm and kicks back on at 5:30am. After one full month, my elec. bill went down $26.00. I hope it continues....
 

antichrist

Well-known member
Sep 7, 2004
8,208
0
68
Atlanta, GA
My parents had one years ago. They ended up taking it out because of temp fluctuations. I have it now and found out the water temp variation was due to the wrong jets in it. It had natural gas jets and they were using propane. It kept cutting in and out.
They also work better for a whole house setup if all the places you want hot water are close, kitchen, bathroom, etc.
 

alex3324

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2004
510
0
Valhalla I am coming home!
D Chapman said:
I understand these are "good" http://www.foreverhotwater.com/

However, I installed a a timer on my Elec. 40 gal water heater $100.00. It cuts off at 10pm and kicks back on at 5:30am. After one full month, my elec. bill went down $26.00. I hope it continues....

Glad to hear of your success. When I lived in the states, my electric company told us it is not energy smart to put a timer on an electric water heater. They said it takes more energy to take the water from lukewarm to hot in the morning, than it takes to maintain hot all night long. I'll have to look more into this.


Have you thought about turning it off during the day as well (9 a.m. - 4 p.m.?)? You could probably save even more, if you don't have a need for hot water during the day.
 

Alexa

Well-known member
I just installed the aquastar which I got at lowe's for 500.00 which is pretty cheap Ive learned for the tankless systems. The problem was finding someone in our area to install it but once we did it's worked fine but there are only two of us in the house and we are rarely home at the same time. There is also about a one minute lag in water temp.
but over all its a great product. I plan on putting them in my rental properties.
 
K

KEJ

Guest
I did a lot of reading on this subject and I think this is the system we're going to try:

http://www.e-tankless.com/

This system should have the scalding hazard solved. We're going to install a system here, and if it works it will certainly more than pay for itself when we move to our island destination (where electric costs are very high). Interesting thread, thanks for the info, everyone.

KJ
 

Reed

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
148
0
75
Bonny Doon, CA
Loydster said:
do they make an electric version.\?

As a previous poster showed, they do make an electric tankless water heater. The thought that ran through my ming though was when traveling in Costa Rica, I would often come across showers that were outfitted with what we called "suicide" showerheads. These showerheads were plastic and had an immersion coil fitted inside. Similar to the coffee cup heaters that were popular a few years ago. One end of the coil was then attached to a sliding rheostat/ on-off switch. The coil/switch combo was then connected directly to the 110. There may have also been a pressure switch to keep it from turning on without water in the shower head, to keep the coil from burnnijng out. Quite an adventure for a warm shower... :eek: