Don’t RO units waste as much water as they make?  Do they use lots of power?

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> On Nov 30, 2020, at 7:35 AM, Lewis Bergman <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> 
> I'll have to look at the brand I have. I have had tankless for about 25 years 
> now in 2 different houses. First, the electric ones suck and I wouldn't have 
> one. The gas ones of either type are great. I had a Bosch for 20 years and I 
> had to clean the firing tip with sandpaper twice in that time. That location 
> had soft water and we had no water softener. The new house has two units that 
> are plumbed together and if the demand gets too much for one the other fires 
> up and keeps up with the floor. Found out recently though that they are not 
> redundant. If the first one has issues the second one never comes on. 
> Evidently many of these forced air jobs that have PVC exhaust pipes also have 
> filters. Check you unit before installing it so that if yours has a filter 
> that has to be cleaned once a year like mine, you can easily get to it. 
> If you have hard water, definitely install a water softener in front of it to 
> lengthen its service life. My new place with the dual ones has a big water 
> softener. I am thinking if I ever build another I might get one of those 
> whole house RO units. They have come down a lot in the last few years and you 
> can now get a whole house RO that puts out 500 gallons a day for a couple 
> thousand dollars. If you are smart enough to have home run plumbing done you 
> could have one that is a lot less expensive only supply the hot water, sinks, 
> dish washer, and ice maker.
> 
>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 12:22 PM Colin Stanners <[email protected]> wrote:
>> The latter brand is likely Rinnai or Rheem. I'm surprised that you saw 
>> issues with Takagi, I thought that they were a higher quality brand.
>> 
>> 
>>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2020, 11:58 AM Chuck McCown via AF <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> I am generally the first one up.  I turn on the shower then the hot water 
>>> tap to brush my teeth.  By the time my teeth are done the water temp has 
>>> stabilized.  I have a 200Kbtu heater (actually 2 of them for two parts of 
>>> the house).  I never seem to notice much of a temp difference when you are 
>>> in the shower and someone starts something else.  You can hear the heater 
>>> instantly rev up when more flow is detected.  Takagi were crap.  Rhinni 
>>> have lasted much longer.  Not sure I spelled those correctly. 
>>>  
>>> From: Nate Burke
>>> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 10:43 AM
>>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
>>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Water heaters
>>>  
>>> I have a tankless for 10 years now and love it.  I would replace a tank 
>>> heater with a tankless any time.  We have semi-hard water.  City water, 
>>> combination of river/well.  Wife would like a watersoftener, I think it's 
>>> fine.  
>>> 
>>> For our 2 person household, it's been perfect.  Once you are in the shower, 
>>> you never have to adjust the temperature no matter how long you stay in.  
>>> When my sister came to visit, she commented 'How do you know when to get 
>>> out?  The water never gets cold"
>>> 
>>> However, Caveats they don't tell you about when using a tankless (At least 
>>> my 10 year old model).
>>> 
>>> It won't get as hot as a tank heater.  On ours, you set the output 
>>> temperature, recommended is 120 degrees, it will adjust the flow to get you 
>>> to that temp.  It can fill a tub, or the washing machine without a problem. 
>>>  but you notice a flow decrease when you try to do both at once.  If you 
>>> want to sanitize with only water temperature, tankless is not the way to 
>>> go.  
>>> 
>>> It really does not like On/Off operation.  If you are the kind of person 
>>> who rinses their dishes with 1 or 2 second bursts from the faucet, it will 
>>> never get hot.  Our dishwasher fills like that, so it always send the 
>>> waterheater into a burner ignition failure (that it recovers from as soon 
>>> as sustained water is drawn)  The dishwasher has it's own internal heater 
>>> that raises the water temp, so that's not a problem.  
>>> 
>>> If your spouse turns off the shower, and you jump right in, You will have 
>>> about 5 seconds of ice cold water at some point during your shower.  The 
>>> water that didn't get heated yet as it went through the heater as it was 
>>> firing up the burner.  
>>> 
>>> Someone running cold water in the house has no affect on temperature, 
>>> someone running hotwater will dramatically change your temp, as suddenly 
>>> the hot flow is decreased until the heater burner ramps up to increase the 
>>> output again.  Same when the other hot flow is turned off, you will get 
>>> really hot.  
>>> 
>>> I de-scale my heater every 6 months. They didn't tell me to do it when I 
>>> got it, and it stopped working after a year.  I use 5 gallons of vinegar 
>>> and a 1/6hp pump in a 5 gallon bucket.  The heater has built in bypass 
>>> valves that make it super simple to hook up.  Just let the pump run the 
>>> vinegar through for an hour (there are manufactures directions on how to do 
>>> it)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 11/29/2020 10:47 AM, Colin Stanners wrote:
>>>> FYI, quick pricing example for the above
>>>> 2x Eccotemp 45HI-NG ( I can't find the -NG on Amazon easily but just for 
>>>> reference here's the very similar but not compatible -LP version 
>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-45HI-LP-Indoor-Propane-Tankless/dp/B00K2XLJIW/
>>>>  ) $530 USD each
>>>> 2x Descaling/service valve kits (not the Eccotemp model but these seem to 
>>>> be compatible)  
>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Hydro-Master-Isolator-Tankless-Pressure/dp/B07KVCFT2K/
>>>>   $60 USD each
>>>> 2x 4inch class III stainless steel vertical vent kits, with additional 
>>>> piping as needed - depends greatly on your house but I'm assuming $1000 
>>>> total
>>>> 1x device interconnect cable - I thought that these models were able to be 
>>>> ganged, can't find the serial cable to do so but I assume it'd be <$50.
>>>> 1x descaling kit  
>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-EZ-Flush-System-Descaler-Cleaning/dp/B01MY7AJ9D
>>>>   $150
>>>>  
>>>> By far the biggest cost would be the labour to replace the old chimney / 
>>>> galvanized B vent with the new class III stainless steel piping x2.
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 10:10 AM Colin Stanners <[email protected]> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Steve, no feces involvement here but I've been looking into water heaters 
>>>>> quite a bit for a project.
>>>>>  
>>>>> For the hard water, instead or in addition to the water softener you may 
>>>>> want to look into putting one of these into your hot water path. 
>>>>> https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000NKETXQ/  I wouldn't put it in the general 
>>>>> cold water path - while polyphosphates are safe for consumption from what 
>>>>> I can see, and I'd trust 3M to vet them well, I try to not add much to 
>>>>> drinking water, and cold water is usually mostly what is used for 
>>>>> drinking. Maybe check your plumbing if it's possible to add that device 
>>>>> to the cold water path for everywhere except the kitchen sink, where 
>>>>> drinking water is usually taken. The $80 USD price is almost "too good to 
>>>>> be true" compared to a water softener but the reviews suggest that it 
>>>>> works well without downsides. The cartridges are $50 each and supposedly 
>>>>> last 6 months.
>>>>>  
>>>>> If the chimney leaks it could be a simple fix to the rain cap or 
>>>>> flashing, did you inspect it? WISP experience is at least useful for 
>>>>> judging if it's sealed well to the roof or if the structure of the rain 
>>>>> cap is good in strong wind.
>>>>>  
>>>>> I would recommend doing lots of math before assuming a solar system can 
>>>>> run an electric water heater for a busy family - it takes a ton of 
>>>>> electricity to create heat, which is why tank electric heaters take 2x-3x 
>>>>> as much time to recover from a cold tank as gas heaters. I don't think 
>>>>> you'd want family members to wait 1-2 hours for a hot shower after 
>>>>> someone else used all the water. As a reference, the bigger tankless 
>>>>> heaters use a reasonable amount of gas (~150-200K BTU) but they take an 
>>>>> inordinate, almost frightening, amount of electricity, ~36kW.
>>>>>  
>>>>> Tankless math starts with available GPM (from temperature rise chart). 
>>>>> IIRC you're in Illinois, where groundwater temp averages 47 deg F (8 deg 
>>>>> C in the developed countries). Assuming that you want 120 deg water 
>>>>> output from the tankless heater, that's 73 deg F temp rise. That's on the 
>>>>> higher end for a tankless heater. If we look at the Eccotemp 45HI-NG 
>>>>> natural gas tankless water heater, their biggest model at ~140K BTU, the 
>>>>> chart says that at that temp rise it can do 2GPM, so one low-flow shower. 
>>>>> If you want to run a high-flow shower and a sink, or 2 showers at the 
>>>>> same time, you'd need to buy 2 units and the serial cable between them 
>>>>> that allows them to run intelligently in parallel (reducing the "not 
>>>>> activating at low water flow" problem by having just one of them, not 
>>>>> both, operate in low flow conditions).
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 12:35 AM Steve Jones <[email protected]> 
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> You guys all do different weird shit. Went to drain my gas heater tonite 
>>>>>> (may have put that maintenance off longer than intended)
>>>>>> We are quarry country so we have super hard water. Needless to say tanks 
>>>>>> full of baked in sediment and when I cleared the valve I may have 
>>>>>> cracked the liner, about every ten seconds I'm getting a drip on the 
>>>>>> burner, and my pop off is dripping, probably some sediment.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> The water heater is the only thing I have that vents hot anymore and my 
>>>>>> chimney leaks in driving rain. Is rather just bash it in and put a 
>>>>>> dumbwaiter in the chase. I have the two fresh kids that I bet would have 
>>>>>> a blast riding that.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Power vent gas looks to almost double the cost.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Tankless is looking almost comparable in price for gas, so I'm curious 
>>>>>> if any of you guys run them without major water softener and filters.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> I'm planning on solar in the next 5 or 6 years when I redo my roof so 
>>>>>> electric would be the thing I go with on the water heater after the one 
>>>>>> I'm gonna have to put in now.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> I like gas water heaters because I know how to fix them, parts are 
>>>>>> cheap, same with my clothes dryers. But theyve priced themselves into me 
>>>>>> looking at my options.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>> Tankless I dont know how to calculate gpm needs. But what led to this 
>>>>>> was taking the flow reducer out of my low flow shower head and running 
>>>>>> out of hot water in 20 minutes. I start my day by scalding myself for 
>>>>>> about a half hour cause I'm a filthy bastard and need to be cleansed of 
>>>>>> my sins.
>>>>>> We have 2 bathrooms and a girl hitting her teens, so I assume we may be 
>>>>>> getting into a shower and bath coming on at the same time and the wife 
>>>>>> knowing what's good for her and washing dishes.
>>>>>> She wont let me put a wood stove and still in the bathroom, so wood 
>>>>>> fired shower options are out.
>>>>>> Are residential boilers a thing? All my walls had pocket doors so I have 
>>>>>> plenty of room for radiant walls, I dont know if boiler heat it even 
>>>>>> efficient though.
>>>>>>  
>>>>>>  
>>>>>>  
>>>>>>  
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Lewis Bergman
> 325-439-0533 Cell
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