apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

who takes 10 minute showers????

1 vote for wisdom of the week on the above comment.

That is so great. I wish I wasn't renting so I could install one!

I travelled through Bolivia last Febuary, and they had electric hotwater heaters too...but I doubt a friendly home inspector checked them out. I saw sparks while showering, a *shocking* experience.

I love the idea of not having hot water sitting idle while I'm away from the home. And the ability to have endless hot water for house guests??? Sign me up!

i love the idea of instant hot water. tankless hot waters make me..well, pun intended, hot.

if i ever buy a house, i'm getting one...but i'm definitely not installing it myself!

Great comment, Trent. We very much appreciate your fuland careful description of the installation involved. Thanks!

Definitely on my list of things to buy when I get a house.

I'm glad to see others share my angst about installing an electric model. I had to get an extra 100 amp service as well as running over 100 feet of that expensive 6 gauge wire. All in all, it was incredibly expensive to install. However, it's been great in use. I do appreciate the little clicking sound it makes when it comes on- it reminds you that you are using electricity, so it encourages you to conserve.

I am looking at getting a tankless heater soon, but I am not sure which kind to get. I need it to support a three bedroom houshold that always has house guests. I am tired of my high gas bill which is mostly attributed to the heater in the winter, but I am also considering going under wind power soon. My old water heater is really inneficient,a nd while the budget is tight, I am holding off as long as I can, but I know that day is going to come soon enough. Should I go gas or Electric? what are the benifits and draw backs of each?

I currently live in Germany and these tankless water heaters are in almost every home or apartment. I think they are a great way to conserve electricity... as well as to ensure a hot shower!

Mozmum,

I'm the author of the article above. I debated between gas and electric for a while before finally settling on the Stiebel unit. As a DIYer, my biggest concern was powering it, and I didn't feel comfortable running gas lines.

I found on average, the gas heaters are more expensive to purchase and install. While still more efficient than a tank water heater, they're not as thermally efficient as electric units but often cost less to operate due to the cost of electricity vs. gas. Most require venting to the outside, while some actually live outside. My boss actually has a gas one and he loves it. It powers his massive non-green house, with many bathrooms, and whirlpool tub.

Electric ones require a properly sized breaker box/service panel. If you have a 200 AMP service, you'll probably be alright but if not, then this might be a costly upgrade that will help make the decision for you.

If you're going to have someone install this for you, search the web for someone who specializes in tankless water heaters (or call your local utility to see if they recommend anyone). They'll be able to provide you with prices and sizing recommendations which should help you with your decision.

There's also alot of information available online.

And in response to Joebelt's comment: I/we don't take anywhere near 10 minute showers but the math was much easier that way!

I have reservations about installing one for our house when our current water heater dies, mainly because we'll have to get LP gas set up -- no natural gas in our area -- and the set-up fees are outrageous (nearly $1K). Plus I've had very bad experiences with gas in the past -- a water heater fire -- and just can't get past my willies.

I used to have tankless hot water in my previous apartment, and it SUCKED.

It would only heat the water by a certain amount, so it was hot enough in summer but not nearly hot enough in winter - and believe me, lukewarm showers in winter gets old really quickly.

If I was installing a new hotwater system, I'd go gas-boosted solar, it's definitely the most environmentally friendly option - FAR more so than electricity!

Or, if I lived in the country and could grow my own wood, a wood-stove boosted solar system.

We installed a tankless in our renovation and love it. Our gas bills are HALF of what they were before the renovation. I really didn't expect to see such a dramatic change in cost! We love it and never have any problems with not enough hot water.

We put one in our weekend place to save energy since we're not there as much. It worked perfectly so we replaced our heater in our home. Also, we got $300 tax credits (effectively a $1000 refund) for each one, and I think that energy tax credit is good for 2008 as well.

I'm presently trying to convince some folks to install one of these in their weekend place (with solar preheater), so this was a timely post; thanks!

I'm not sure if the author was suggesting this is a "green" solution, but heating water with electricity is downright wasteful (if you have gas) and there's no way you can justify it. It is 3x the cost of gas, (so it's not just "cost less") regardless of the marginally more efficient electric heater. And if you live in NY with its 25c/kwH electricity, it would be worse. Studies show that you save 10-15% compared to a storage tank heater, good but not wonderful.

Tankless is great for casual or infrequent use, but the flow requirements will preclude some uses of hot water...ie the heater shuts off if the flow is less than 3/4 (some 1/2) gallon/min. So you couldn't get a trickle of hot water, or turn the shower down to low.

We installed a gas powered tankless water heater in our house. It is wonderful. When we bought the house, the inspector mentioned that he had never seen a water heater as old as ours that was still working. When we removed the old one it was filled with 25 years worth of silt. Ew.

As for energy efficiency, it's great. We keep the digital thermostat set to 120 F. Rebekkap, I wonder if your heater was not properly set.

Getting the utility bills is like report card day. It has been a lot of fun to track our improvement as we learn what works for our house. We're into our second year here, so we can compare each month's bill to the previous year's. The tankless heater made a big difference, so it was worth the expense.

Our water heater needs to be replaced immediately. As my husband and I have just spent the past 4 months renovating our kitchen every evening and weekend, we do not have the patience for another huge project. The cost of a new tank water heater (that I can easily install myself) is less than $500. The cost of a gas tankless unit (we don't have the proper power for an electric) is $3000-$4000 installed. I can't bring myself to spend that much.

My parent's have one and it is amazing. Multiple showers, dishes, washing machine, whatever can all be run and we're fine! They are almost entirely off the grid, running on propane for everything except the electric water pump.

And these things pay for themselves in 18 months. Really, it's worth it.

Where we live there is A LOT of calcium in the water so as much as we'd like to get one of these, we're relegated to the current offering of hot water tanks.

We will be renovating a bathroom and I have been trying to convince my dh about a tankless water heater. I used them back in the 70s! in Thailand and could never understand why they had not caught on in the US.