From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jeff Owens)
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 12:17:59 -0700
The typical American family uses 260 gallons of water
each day. Heating water costs 10-40 dollars a month
and most of this heat is lost while water sits in a tank.
A simple timer for electric water heaters can cut this
cost in half.
A couple months ago, we put in a tankless water heater. We had to replace
our tank anyway (it was old and starting to do that warning leaking). The
tank was completely inadequate (30 gallons) and because it was broken it
didn't heat all 30 gallons.
The tankless is great. We got an Aquastar natural gas model. I forget the
model number but it's the standard residental model. I did a lot of
research on the internet before deciding to buy. Aquastar was considered
the best, bar none, by every place I read. Especially in the last couple
of years since ownership changed and the quality went way up.
They normally retail from the high 500's to about $650. Real Goods, true
to their pricing standards, sells it for $650. We went to their outlet
store for the first time and, lo and behold, they had the very model we
wanted...for only $450. It was a return and in perfect condition (except
the box was opened). We bought it. (I should note that since we bought a
$50 lifetime membership 5 minutes before buying the water heater we got an
additional discount on the heater...I forget...5%?).
The tankless heater works great. For the first time one person can shower
while someone else does laundry or runs the dishwasher. We no longer have
to allow 30 minutes or so after doing any hot water activity (including
another shower) before showering. The main disadvantage is that it only
gives you hot water if the hot water has at least a .5 gallon flow rate.
This is a pain and makes it difficult to turn water on and off during
showering or washing dishes by hand, but it's fine for the actual
activities.
There are two ways to look at the heater...in theory and in practice:
In theory the tankless heater uses the same amount of water as a tank
heater and saves you money in the heating. You only pay for the hot water
you use, never for the water that has to be reheated in the holding area.
In practice, I take longer showers. What can I say? they're one of my few
vices. Now, if we had had a properly working 40 gallon water heater before
(the standard for most households), the comparisons would have been more
minor. We also use a bit more water washing dishes by hand or doing other
extended tasks requiring hot water...because if we turn the water flow
level down or off we can get an interuption in the hot water.
The other big disadvantage to the tankless heaters is their initial cost.
But they are really cheaper. Tank heaters become useless after about 10
years. They leak, they corrode, they break down in unfixable ways.
Sometimes they break in ways causing expensive water damage. Tankless
heaters last for decades. If you read discussion boards or websites with
people talking about their tankless heaters you will hear about a lot of
outdated models...that's because the models put in 20 or 40 years ago are
still working as well as when they were new.
The Aquastar, and some other brands, have an optional feature (about $50
more on the Aquastar) to take a solar input. What this means is that it
will accept preheated water (from any source but it's assumed you will use
solor...wood heated is also possible) in to the unit. As the water passes
through it for use as hot water, the unit will heat only the difference
between the incoming water and the outgoing setting. This makes the
tankless heater the perfect back up to a solar water heater.
You can get models that run on propane instead of natural gas and most
brands also sell electric ones. You aren't really supposed to put the
tankless heater outside but we did anyway. It's okay if you're sure it
will never ever freeze. We only get freezes like that every 8-10 years and
it's in a protected location. We haven't yet built a shelter for it yet
but it still stayed on during some nasty winds last spring (the pilot can
blow out). Lastly, the tankless models are tiny compared to the space a
tank takes up, and they hang on the wall.
You can get models that are tiny for boats or mobile homes, small for
indivudual appliances (like one sink), for an entire house (what I have),
or for commerical applications (resturants, apt buildings, etc). Ours was
bought by a resturant owner who said on the return form that it was "a
nightmare." We were worried but it works fine...it was the wrong model for
a resturant so no wonder they had problems (not enough flow).
If I were building a house from scratch, particulary a "country" house, I
would put in solar hot water (maybe...for smaller homes they aren't always
cost effective) fed into an electric tankless heater (I want to get away
from gas, which is a petrochemical) which is run off of solar, wind, or
water power. I've priced this combo for small apt buildings (4-6 units)
and it works...the solar hot water is probably too expensive for single
family homes (assuming your family isn't 10 people with 3-4 showers).
Hope this is useful to someone.
Cyndi
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.consultclarity.com/
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