Tankless heater eliminates strategic showers
By: Steve Brannan - February 9th, 2007
Have you ever gone to take a shower or decided to hop into the tub for a long, hot soak only to discover that someone has beaten you to it and left you with nothing but ice cold water—and a two–hour wait for hot water? With two pre-teen children, it was becoming a common occurrence in our family. We had one 60-gallon electric hot water tank and it took strategic planning if more than one person wanted to have a bath.
We had solved our problem in our last house by adding a spare electric “holding” tank. That strained on our electric bill, but it allowed us to use our large Jacuzzi tub as often as we liked. The holding tank solved the problem, but it always seemed to rub me the wrong way.
Tankless heating seemed to offer a good alternative to keeping 120 gallons of hot water constantly on stand by. I had heard about tankless hot water years ago, but it was emerging technology North America at the time. So I decided to wait for a bit and let someone else be the guinea pig. Fifteen years later it seems safe enough to try, so I got in touch with a friend in the heating business and arranged for him to install a tankless hot water heater. I chose the Takagi brand.
So far, so good. The tankless hot water heater sits waiting for you to turn on a hot water tap. When it senses water flow, it ignites a gas burner and within seconds is providing water at 120F. When you turn off the hot water, the tankless unit turns off too. You only heat water as you need it, rather than spending money keeping 40 to 60 gallons of water hot 24 hours a day need it or not.
Although, the tankless heater never runs out of hot water, I’ve found that a new awareness of how I use hot water has arisen in me. I no longer use hot water without thinking about whether or not I really need hot water to do the job at hand. I use cold water to pre-rinse dishes before filling up the sink with hot water to wash them. I shave and clean the sink with cold water instead of hot. I just seem to be a little more aware now of how often I use hot water.
I haven’t found too many drawbacks to the tankless system. The unit heats faster the higher the demand, so you always start out a shower or bath with “full on” hot water and then when it’s really hot you add the cold slowly to moderate the temperature.
If you turn the hot water on and off a lot you will get what I call “blocks”, or pulses, of cold water mixed in with the hot. That’s because the unit shuts down very quickly when it is not being used.
I have also been told that because the heat exchanger coil is made up of very thin tubing that scaling up can be a problem, especially in areas with hard water. Yearly de-scaling with a vinegar flush or getting a water softener will limit the amount of maintenance that you may have to perform on this style of heater.
I am very happy so far with my new tankless water heater. Now there’s no more strategic shower planning for me.
My husband and I were travelling from Elliot Lake to Espanola today and were listening to your program on CBC1. It proved to be a very beneficial program for us. We became first time home owners in October 2005 and because we are retirees, we pay attention to programs that help home owners. Your information about various new and older brand names was especially helpful.
Many thanks…
Katherine and Fred Croxson, Elliot Lake
We are planning to replace our 23 year old water heater as part of a bathroom renovation. We are considering an electric tankless water heater. Gas is not an option in our rural setting.
Based on repair history, do you have any reccomendation on manufacturers?
My first choice so far is a Stiebel Eltron Tempra 24.
I am extremely interested in all energy saving products etc. and was considering the purchase of a natural gas tankless water heater. When visiting a local home heating firm, another consumer said that they did not work as efficiently in Northern Ontario due to our cold water temperatures over the winter months.
Is there any data available to respond to what appears to be a very legitimate concern?
Would it be of any benefit to have a 40 gallon holding tank, so the cold incoming water can warm up prior to feeding through the tankless system?
A great inexpensive alternative to a tankless hot water heater is the Hot Water Lobster instant hot water valve at only $179.95. It conserves water while also giving convenient access to instant hot water throughout the entire home! It works off of the homes existing plumbing and water heater!
The Hot Water Lobster uses no electricity and is pump free, so it creates no noise. It is made in the U.S.A., has a 10-year warranty, and can be easily installed in under 10 minutes.
Check it out at:
www.hotwaterlobster.com