Opinions needed, On demand,NATURAL GAS Tankless water Heater ??? Wood stove related sort of

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glenng

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Nov 9, 2006
121
Anyone have experience with tankless/ on-demand NATURAL GAS water heaters? Could you share your experiences/opinions.

I want my new wood stove to use the chimney that my hot water tank is currently using. I`m thinking about going tankless. Our current water tank is 10 years old , its located on the wrong side of the house. So this is the perfect time to perfect our water heating system

Glenn
 
Glenn,

I replaced my electric tank water heater with a tankless model in January of 2006. It cut my electric bill by $50.00 per month. Can't say what savings you would realize with gas, but from a "green" perspective, the concept of heating water only when it's needed was appealing to me. I think that there is a $500.00 Energy Star tax credit for these things that expires 01/01/2007....don't hold me to that, but if you're going to buy one, you may have to move fast.
 
Interesting article about peak vs. off-peak load, but the original question was about NG tankless water heaters, not electric.

I bought and installed a tankless natural gas water heater 2.5 years ago when my wife and I bought our first house. We love the thing, but it does require minor adjustments to lifestyle. We went with a Bosch unit that does not have a pilot light, but uses 2D cells to spark a pilot before the main burner is lit. Since we installed it before we moved in and therefore had not established a gas bill base-line, we don't know how much we saved. The old unit was a 1977 AO Smith 40 gal tank and I was afraid it'd fail as soon as we moved in, so I did it while we still had hot showers at the apartment. We have compared gas bills to the people before us, but I think they kept the thermostat at 78 with the windows open all winter, because we use far less than half the gas they did (and I'm not yet heating with wood, though I hope that changes in the next few months).

Expect to wash your hands with cold water unless you want to run the water for 60-90 seconds before you wash. We just wash our hands in the cold, but some guests who don't know are confused why cold water comes out, no matter which handle they turn! This is because the heat exhanger does take some time to get hot enough to heat the water, then for that water to be piped to where you're using it. Insulating the hot water pipes helps the heated water to not dissipate the heat around your basement or in your walls, but doesn't make a huge difference. Once you have hot water at your tap, though, it is endless. Our system is made to handle only one major hot water usage at once, but I've showered hot with the clothes washer using hot water and not had any problems. The one thing is with appliances that INTERMITTANTLY add hot water, it might not work as well, since the burner goes out every time the demand for hot water stops. We have problems with our dishwasher not rinsing all the soap residue off in winter. We've had no problems with laundry, though. (DISCLAIMER - It may just be that our dishwasher just sucks. I didn't research that unit because it came with the house)

The other advantage is that water keeps moving through the unit and doesn't significantly deposit minerals there, so if you have hard water, the life expentency of the unit is much longer. My dad's hot water tank fails about every 7-8 years, no matter what he buys. I think the longest lasting one was 10 years, which is too short for me. Time will tell if I made the right choice, but I'm pretty confident I did.

Overall we're very pleased. We replace the D cells when we call for hot water and it never comes, and it's right back.

If it is more efficient, lasts longer, AND enables you to move ahead with your woodburner install, how can you go wrong?!?
 
The tankless water heats work very well and are very efficient and cost less to operate than a tank. However, keep in mind the gallons per minute rating of the unit. If you have any of the following, colder water coming from your main than they used to test for ratings, long pipe runs and you don't have low flow showerheads, faucets, etc. any of these or combo of these will reduce the gpm of hot water output alot. That could result on lukewarm showers on cold days, even if the shower is the only thing using hot water at the time. Don't rely on their number of appliances that can run at the same time ratings. Do your research.
 
We have been 'tankless' since 1983 and can't imagine any other way. It is Natural Gas, a Paloma PH-12 unit. You never run out of hot water and raising 3 kids with lots of laundry, showers, etc. that was a blessing. You must be sure to size it according to your needs or adjust your usage accordingly, ie. we can't draw warm water for laundry while showering or the water will be cooler than you would like. We are on a well that is very deep and the water is very cold, but the heater runs the temp up very hot when you set it that way. We also have hard water but I have not had trouble with build-up in the coil. I would recommend the unit to anyone.
 
Thanks so much for your sharing your experience with tankless hot water. I`ve been reading/researching online but I want to hear it from people that are using the product . Keep it coming.

Thanks
Glenn
 
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