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Maybe a long shot posting this here, but I'm seeking opinions/experiences on how these have worked out for people, specifically electric heaters.
We've had one for 10 years and its finally broken down, source yet to be determined but one of the three elements isn't firing. Bigger problem is, it's never been entirely adequate. Even though it's the largest heater (three breakers!) with biggest flow rate I've calculated after the fact (not my idea to put this in) that with our inlet water temperature, which is pretty damn cold, its not enough to fill a bath with hot water. Indeed, it will not. Showers OK though. Other annoying feature is the waiting for hot water.
It's a three story house with heater on bottom, unheated shop floor. I'm thinking about ditching it for a conventional tank heater.
We're all electric, hydro grid power. Bill is already a whopper in winter, hard to imagine it'd be that much more with the tank, but...
My propane tankless water heater will put out scalding hot water forever, or until it runs out of propane and it's in a cold climate with pretty cold water inlet temps. It also takes no power besides 2 D batteries for the ignition spark which have to be replaced every couple of years. It also uses surprisingly very little propane. I have to keep it on the lowest heat setting to keep the water from being scalding hot.
Any reason you haven't considered switching to a propane/gas tankless? They are great.
I've "heard" that the electric ones are a lot more efficient than they used to be. At one time, an electric tankless was just not the way to go, but gas was fine.
A couple of weeks ago, walked out into the garage and our regular electric water heater was spraying water all over the place. Given that it fell into the emergency category, I just had a regular electric one installed. I suppose I should have done some research before the fact on tankless, but I didn't so had to go with a regular one.
Blind Cleric ... you said that waiting on hot water was a problem. I thought they continuously circulated hot water through the pipes so there was no waiting. Is than an optional feature?
Tankless heaters are great and all over Europe, used in cold climates too.
The only thing I have noticed is that they are generally installed inside the house. Most of those I saw around here in Texas are installed outside the house. Perhaps that matters...
However, they can be installed indoors or outdoors depending on the location opportunities provided by your home’s plumbing and natural gas piping system designs.
I know EU families with 3-4 kids that use tankless water heaters, and baths are more popular than showers, and the tankless heaters did output adequate amount of water to take care of the whole household. It's heating water on demand, so it shouldn't matter how many gallons of heated water is used.
Perhaps the tankless heaters in the US are built differently here? Or you had a wrong size? Lesser quality? Wrongly connected?
I noticed that tankless water heaters don't earn love here in the US. Not sure why, though...
Not sure about electric heaters. Electricity is expensive here. I already suffer the A/C expenses during the Summer. But the might work great with timers.
T
Perhaps the tankless heaters in the US are built differently here? Or you had a wrong size? Lesser quality? Wrongly connected?
I noticed that tankless water heaters don't earn love here in the US. Not sure why, though....
We have a Steibel Eltron 36. German brand, largest they make-or made 10 yrs ago. Data sheet shows with a 40F intake water temperature heated to 113F the max gallons per minute this heater delivers is 3.32. Tubs are said to require 4.0. I don't believe the ambient air temperature where the heater is mounted makes much of a difference, since it doesn't deliver hot water to tub whether unheated room is 45F in winter or 65F in summer.
We have an additional pressure tank to aid with water pressure since we're on top of a hill with a three story house, for what that's worth.
https://m.lowes.com/pd/Rinnai-Super-...ter/1000462005 This bad boy will get you 11 gpm . I'm sure that number drops a little with 40 degree intake water but it should still be over 4gpm. My buddy fills his entire hot tub up with his.
I've got an old Aquastar tankless nat gas water heater that the previous homeowner installed some 15 years ago. It's great for large hot water demands, but not good for instant hot water. It can take about 4 gallons of water to purge before hot water gets to the furthest outlet. We've learned that opening a hot water valve for one second will trigger the the tankless water heater to fire up. We wait about 2 minutes later before we open the hot water valve again. Since we live in a drought-stricken region, we use the opportunity to rinse off our dishes in the sink before loading the dishwasher, refill our water jugs for the dogs and indoor plants, and fill a Home Depot 5 gal. bucket in the shower (to water landscape). This saves about 3.5 gallons of water by not wasting the purged (yet to be hot) water down the drain.
To simplify the process, I'm thinking about buying an on-demand recirculating hot water pump that uses a thermostatic crossover to send the yet-to-hot water back through the cold water supply line. I plan to add a dedicated recirculating water line to the house when we remodel...along with a residential fire suppression sprinkler system. Our gas bill averages $10 a month and our hot water demand is pretty much between 6am-9am and 9pm-10pm. So heating a water tank 24/7 does not make much sense for our household.
I'm wondering if insulating your pipes might help since those inlet temps and perhaps the supply pipes might be cold-soaked.
I've got an old Aquastar tankless nat gas water heater that the previous homeowner installed some 15 years ago. It's great for large hot water demands, but not good for instant hot water. It can take about 4 gallons of water to purge before hot water gets to the furthest outlet. We've learned that opening a hot water valve for one second will trigger the tankless water heater to fire up.
Same is happening with any other water heater. The location is very crucial if you want to shorten the way water travel through cold pipes. My gas water heater tank is located in the garage. It takes a minute or two (not sure how many gal. of water but surely way more than 4) till the hot water reach the bathrooms located on the opposite side of the house. Most people also install a water mixer that regulates water temperature coming out of the faucet.
In EU most tankless heater are mounted in bathrooms or very close to it.
For the use in a kitchen, lots of people have a small electric water heater installed under the sink, that is sufficient for washing a few dishes per hand.
Maybe this could be a solution for you, OP?
BTW:
What you expect from a water heater that delivers "max gallons per minute this heater delivers is 3.32".
For the whole house, you need to look for one that delivers at least 6+gpm
Some deliver 10+gpm
Check the specks on the model you're considering. It will only raise the temperature so many degrees. If you're pulling very cold water into the house, it may not raise the water temp high enough, so all you get is warm water, not hot water. I know I checked this out several years ago, and rejected the tankless heater for that reason.
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. I'm sure that number drops a little with 40 degree intake water but it should still be over 4gpm. My buddy fills his entire hot tub up with his.
