Tankless water heaters are selling like hotcakes nowadays. But like
nearly everything, they have their good points, and their bad
points. Before inspecting the good points and bad points, let's have a look at how
they work.
For our example we're going to use a gas heater, because it is better to
visualize than electrical, but it is's just about the same for an electrical
model as a gas model.
A tankless water heater can be pictured as a coil of pipe over a
campfire. As you run water through the pipe, the heat from the flames
gradually heats the water in the pipe, and by the time the water has
gone throughout the whole length of pipe it is hot. The slower the
water travels through the pipe, the hotter it will get. If the water
travels thru the pipe terribly quickly it might not be in the flames
long enough to get hot. Some heaters can modulate the heat source to
even out the temperature rise for different water flow rates.
With a typical water heater you have got a big tank full of hot
water, which is slowly losing heat to its environment, even with lots
of insulation. If it's's a gas heater it's got a pilot light as well,
which consumes energy 24 hours per day. Since the tankless heater does
not have a pilot light and does not have a gigantic tank full of hot water
losing energy constantly, it is more energy efficient.
One great thing about the tankless heaters is that you never run out of
hot water. Endless hot water is one of the selling points for the
tankless water heater, but be cautious, it can lead to an increase in
hot water usage by the house owner who now believes his hot water is
cheaper.
With the tankless units a minimum flow, sometimes gallon per minute,
is needed to switch on the heater. So say goodbye to low flows of hot
water, because low flows won't keep the heater turned on.
The tankless heaters need larger flues than tank type units if they
are gas and larger gas lines, and if they're electrical they need
bigger diameter wires to deal with the high amperage currents they draw.
( it requires a lot of electricity to heat water fast. ) they're also
quite a lot more expensive than tank type units and lots more complicated.
if they ever need repairs they are more expensive to repair [*COMMA] and
sometimes parts are hard to get, but then there is no tank to rust out
either.
Since the tankless water heaters need to heat the water before sending
it to the fixture, it takes longer to get hot water than with the
storage type water heaters. That leads to wasting water which no one
wants to do.
There is a response to the water wasting problem, and it's called a
demand hot water system. It's a small pump that installs under the
sink furthest from the heater. When you want hot water you turn on
the pump, which pumps the water in a large loop from the water heater
past the sink and on through the cold water piping back to the inlet
of the water heater. When hot water reaches the pump it shuts off.
Now you have instant hot water and you did not run any water down the
drain.
Demand systems use less than $2.00 per year in electricity since they
run for such temporary periods of time. Don't confuse a hot water demand
system with a traditional hot water circulating system. The demand
systems only run for 1 or 2 seconds when hot water is requested. Typical
hot water circulating systems run steadily for long periods and
will void the guaranty on the tankless units.
A tankless water heater will save energy over a typical water
heater, but will waste water when compared to a tank type unit. To
save both energy and water install a hot water demand system pump
together with the heater. That is's called being nice to ma earth.
Learn about tankless water heaters, demand hot water circulating
systems, and more at : GotTanklessWaterHeaters.com
