Anyone use a LP tankless water heater??

[Tom Reed]

That sounds like a big improvement. When we had our Aquastar the 2nd person in the shower would get a nice blast of warm water that was stored in the pipes and then a cold slug that passed through the heater between uses. I hated that about that heater.

[M61hops]

We had a bunch of propane fueled tankless water heaters in assorted buildings at the resort where I work and ended up going back to standard tank type water heaters due to too many problems.  We tried every brand but all had problems of one sort or another.  If you think about it, having to run a control every time someone turns on a tap is a lot of wear and tear on a precision device, and your just out of luck if you just need a trickel for something like shaving.  We have a lot fewer service calls now that we went back to the old fasioned tanks! Also did not notice any savings in fuel with the on demand heaters.  I think your heat exchanger is just condensing water vapor onto a cold surface on start up and maybe does not have a leak?  I noticed the green flakey stuff on all of the heaters we had.  I would never buy a tankless after my experience with a dozen of them over about a ten year period.                  Leland

[LowGear]

WARNING!  Very Poor Reader Adding His Four Bits!

I can't remember anyone mentioning the electric units.  OK, It's not totally on topic but it's pretty close.  They seem to be a small chamber with two or three standard elements wired to a totally butt kicking breaker.

Anyone actually have experience with these units?

Casey

[Tom Reed]

My mom has installed one in an outhouse laundry room. Then she had to install a 200 amp service to power it. Then when they installed the backup generator it needed to be 15 kw. I don't think she saved any money.

Another type of tank hot water, that does not need a chimney through the roof is the direct vent type. These vent through the wall and draw intake air through the same vent system. These can sometimes replace electric units that are in a closet in the house. I put one in our basement and am very happy with it. Installation was not easy though.

[LowGear]

Hi Tom,

That's kind of why I wiened out myself.  Three 60 Amp breakers!  But just think how she stimulated the economy. 

These direct vent type are one of my next searches.  I've seen the microwave units as well but both of these probably have the storage tank proglem and the one I saw at Home Depot was like $850 if I remember correctly.

Casey

[Jedon]

I have a Rinnai I've used off-grid for a couple years, works like a charm. I plan to hook water pre-heating up to it, solar thermal first, but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's a direct vent model. We used 209 gallons of propane last year between the water heater and cookstove.

[mbryner]

When we had our Aquastar the 2nd person in the shower would get a nice blast of warm water that was stored in the pipes and then a cold slug that passed through the heater between uses.

We haven't had that problem at all.  Maybe it's because all the piping in our house is copper.   By the time a cold "slug" of water would make its way through the warm pipes, it would be tempered.   Of course, it takes a little while to get the pipes warm when you first turn on the shower in the morning.

It's a direct vent model. We used 209 gallons of propane last year between the water heater and cookstove.

So is our Rheem.  And we have even better results so far w/ usage than you, Jedon.   Between the water heater, stove/oven, and clothes dryer we've used only 60 gallons of propane over the past 6 months.   Very happy so far.

Marcus

[LowGear]

Love - Hate.

I really enjoy the ideas that come down this site and I love the added project load but I'm being nickle and dimed to death. 

200 gallons of propane is about $1000.  Now if the washer and dryer were relocated out by the clothesline then I bet a lot more clothes would get air dried.  Cooking on gas is so much more "real" than electricity there is little comparison.  And now you're all throwing in the cheaper hot water.  We drop about $7000 a year on electricity. 

How close to continuous hot water can these direct vent systems come?  How big - in inches as well as gallons - are they?  Do they make much noise?  About how much "other heated" water can they store?

Casey

[Tom Reed]

When we had our Aquastar the 2nd person in the shower would get a nice blast of warm water that was stored in the pipes and then a cold slug that passed through the heater between uses.

We haven't had that problem at all.  Maybe it's because all the piping in our house is copper.   By the time a cold "slug" of water would make its way through the warm pipes, it would be tempered.   Of course, it takes a little while to get the pipes warm when you first turn on the shower in the morning.

Marcus

To be fair the heater was mounted outside and the supply line was above ground. The problem was worst during the winter when the supply temp was probably in the 30's F.

[tinkerer]

Well.. after reading all your guys excellent posts and doing a bunch of other researching and talking to the local plumbers...I've decided to go back to a tank type water heater. I figure if I'm feeding it hot or even preheated water from the tank that is connected to the coil in my stove or solar, I won't be using all that much propane. All the plumbers I've talked to have mixed feelings about the tankless heaters. They all say that they're great when their working but when their giving you fits it can be troublesome and sometimes expensive to fix. They all agree that a good tank type heater is simple and for the most part trouble free. My water is very soft and seems to be easy on things as far as corrosion goes. The tank type heater that was in the house when I moved in was about 15 years old. It was working fine when we installed the tankless. It was starting to show a little rust inside but I'm sure it would have went for awhile yet. Now for the NEXT question... Which tank type heater is the best bang for your buck??? All the plumbers I talked to had different answers..They all claimed that the brand they sold was the best... lol

Thanks!
Ben

[tinkerer]

Love - Hate.

I really enjoy the ideas that come down this site and I love the added project load but I'm being nickle and dimed to death. 

200 gallons of propane is about $1000.  Now if the washer and dryer were relocated out by the clothesline then I bet a lot more clothes would get air dried.  Cooking on gas is so much more "real" than electricity there is little comparison.  And now you're all throwing in the cheaper hot water.  We drop about $7000 a year on electricity. 

How close to continuous hot water can these direct vent systems come?  How big - in inches as well as gallons - are they?  Do they make much noise?  About how much "other heated" water can they store?

Casey

Wow! 200 gallons for $1000??  Thats like $5.00 a gallon!!! I thought ours was high. I guess I have no room to talk. lol We just had our tank filled today and paid $1.85 a gallon and I thought that was horrible.  Where are you located at??

Ben

[LowGear]

Sit down, hold on, and read,

I just phoned Ace Hardware in Captain Cook, Hawaii and it's $6.03 per gallon including tax.  I guess it's not so bad when you're used to paying 43 cents a KW for grid electricity.

And yes we're putting in another 3 KW of solar next year.

Casey

[Tom Reed]

It's $2.89 here in N.CA a month ago.

[squarebob]

My last LP fill up was $2.38 near Atlanta, Georgia

[LowGear]

Hi Ben,

I don't know how many gallons you bought at 1.85 but it's starting to sound like you got an incredible deal.

Casey