[retiredguy123]

Note that, if you want hot water to arrive faster to the shower, you can turn on the shower and a hot water faucet in the sink at the same time. That will reduce the wait by more than half the normal time. To reduce the time even further, replace the 1.5 gpm sink faucet aerator with a 2.2 gpm aerator, and replace the water saver shower head.

[jump4]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

You will also increase the time to get hot water for your shower, etc.

Are you sure about this? I believe the time waiting for hot water to arrive at the shower would be based solely on distance to the hot water source. It should not matter whether that source is a tank of hot water or an instant tankless heater. If the tankless heater is installed in a location different than where the old water heater tank, then there could be a shorter or longer delay to get a hot shower.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by jump4

Are you sure about this? I believe the time waiting for hot water to arrive at the shower would be based solely on distance to the hot water source. It should not matter whether that source is a tank of hot water or an instant tankless heater. If the tankless heater is installed in a location different than where the old water heater tank, then there could be a shorter or longer delay to get a hot shower.

I think the point is that the water in the tank is already hot, but the tankless water heater needs to heat up the water.

[crazygery]

[/I]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I agree, but it is almost impossible to determine the lifespan of an appliance. I have never had a tank type water heater fail, and the only one I ever replaced was more than 20 years old. I have also never done any maintenance, flushing or otherwise, on a water heater. To me, if your goal is to save money, the initial cost of an appliance is more important than speculating on how long you think something will last.

I have my tankless installed in my laundry room, my washer is very happy and since the bathroom is only 50 feet from the laundry room it works great, my wife has to wait a little longer because her bathroom is 250 feet away, but she’s very patient and doesn’t mind the 45 second wait. I’m just happy we have 2 bathrooms

[Normal]

Originally Posted by jump4

Are you sure about this? I believe the time waiting for hot water to arrive at the shower would be based solely on distance to the hot water source. It should not matter whether that source is a tank of hot water or an instant tankless heater. If the tankless heater is installed in a location different than where the old water heater tank, then there could be a shorter or longer delay to get a hot shower.

Just the “Latency Effect” described another way. Instant isn’t absolute, about a gallon of water has to cycle out of the apparatus, the therm switch has to kick on, then the burner comes to temp and you get your hot water in the home system. This isn’t the Jetson’s or Star Trek, but it is continuous.

[sowtime444]

Originally Posted by Blackbird45

Over 25 years ago my wife and I build an oversized home and we had an instant water heater installed.
It did live up to its name we had instant hot water through the house, but we did run into one problem.
We had also installed a large tub that should had been listed as a small pool, by the time half of it was fill the water would turn cold.
Since I do not know the first thing about instant water heaters, I can't tell you if this is a problem with all instant hot water heaters or it was the way ours was installed.
But before you go forward with this find out if there is a capacity level.

I had a two person jacuzzi bathtub that I could fill with a gas powered tankless Bosch in 2001 without a problem. In Boston (ground water started at near freezing probably lol). This was the large capacity size tankless. Size does matter.

[sowtime444]

Originally Posted by crazygery

[/I]

her bathroom is 250 feet away

I'd love to see that floor plan!

[sowtime444]

Originally Posted by crazygery

[/I]

I have my tankless installed in my laundry room, my washer is very happy and since the bathroom is only 50 feet from the laundry room it works great, my wife has to wait a little longer because her bathroom is 250 feet away, but she’s very patient and doesn’t mind the 45 second wait. I’m just happy we have 2 bathrooms

Originally Posted by Toymeister

I have a whole home energy monitor. It isolated about 14 electricity consumers, including the water heater. I also have some smart home technology with a water heater switch.

To answer the question of savings of turning the heater off on a timer due to standby costs. I left a vacant home's tanked heater on for one week, then the next i ran it for 8 hours, 16 off. I repeated the two week cycle. No one was in the home, not a gallon of water was used.

My exact savings with a timer equated to 78 cents on a monthly basis.

No, a tankless heater will not save you money.

Your water heater was 100% electric and used no gas?

[jrref]

Electric tankless are not that good. Also, the existing electric supply to your electric tank hot water heater is not large enough to install a tankless so you will need an electrician to install a larger wire and breaker in your electrical panel. Not a big deal but that has to be done.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by sowtime444

Your water heater was 100% electric and used no gas?

Yes, its appropriately named an electric water heater. Many homes here in The Villages have them.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If your goal is to save money, you won't do it by switching to a tankless system. Just my opinion.

I respectfully disagree. With a 40-50 gallon water heater you are periodically using gas or electricity to keep the water in the tank at a certain temperature--usually 140 degrees. Even if you're out of the house for the day or out of town for a week your water heater is doing that reheating process.

With a tankless water heater you only heat the water that is actually going through the system. If you're gone for a week no heating is done.

Having said that I have been told by those who have one that the electric tankless water heater does not work as well as the gas one. Ours is gas. We could turn the water on and leave it running for 24-hours straight and the water would still be coming out of the tap hot. I think ours is great and I think it's one of the best additions we have made to our home.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Normal

Just the “Latency Effect” described another way. Instant isn’t absolute, about a gallon of water has to cycle out of the apparatus, the therm switch has to kick on, then the burner comes to temp and you get your hot water in the home system. This isn’t the Jetson’s or Star Trek, but it is continuous.

Also the water in the pipe between the heater and the spigot is not heated. So that could water has to come out of the spigot before the hot water can come through. So whether you have a tank or tankless water heater the wait should be the same...if they were in the same location.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by sowtime444

I had a two person jacuzzi bathtub that I could fill with a gas powered tankless Bosch in 2001 without a problem. In Boston (ground water started at near freezing probably lol). This was the large capacity size tankless. Size does matter.

That's a good point. We installed a walk-in tub/jacuzzi in our guest bathroom and our old 40-gallon gas water heater couldn't provide enough hot water. With the tankless heater the water supply is unlimited and that solved the problem.

[biker1]

Out of curiosity, I looked at some specs. Essentially, you need to consider how many gallons per minute you will need and how much temperature rise will be required. The temperature rise is basically a function of location. For The Villages, if you want to be able to support 2 simultaneous showers you will probably need 3 40-amp breakers (120 amps) and the appropriate gauge wire run to the location of the tankless heater. An existing tank electric water heater is probably on a 30 amp circuit. It is possible that a typical 200 amp service will not support this with everything else in the house, in which case you would need to upgrade the breaker panel to support more amps.

I went through this previously when having a custom home built. Granted it was some time ago but I don't think things have changed all that much. My builder had put in several electric tankless water heaters and wound up replacing them with tank electric water heaters because the home owners were unhappy with the electric tankless. He had installed numerous gas tankless water heaters with good results. He was more than happy to put in a tankless electric but recommended against it. Where we were building, gas was not available and I wasn't going to install propane tanks. He did mention that it was lower cost to install the electric tankless during the construction of the house rather than try to retrofit the needed 100+ amps of wiring later on.

Originally Posted by jrref

Electric tankless are not that good. Also, the existing electric supply to your electric tank hot water heater is not large enough to install a tankless so you will need an electrician to install a larger wire and breaker in your electrical panel. Not a big deal but that has to be done.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I think the point is that the water in the tank is already hot, but the tankless water heater needs to heat up the water.

But, regardless of whatever type of water heater you have, the water in the line between the water heater and the tap is not heated. So that cold water has to be flushed out before the hot water arrives. And the tankless heats the water instantaneously as the water goes through. There is no holding tank.