My tankless experience summary

[PLUMBER RICK]

Re: My tankless experience summary

80's ... that is just wrong ...

Volume drop ... interesting ... I noticed none in my application ...

Well let me correct myself ... when every hot water tap is on ... okay ... that never happens though.

I look forward to your results.

there is a definite drop in volume as the heater has to slow down the flow to heat up the water. i'm sure you see the volume self adjust when you first open a faucet all the way.

if you open a tub faucet that has no flow restrictions, you'll see the drop of volume.

my 3/4'' deck valve for the tub is not only noticeable in person, but on a phone call to another forum member. just holding the phone to the tub and turning the cold on, then doing the hot was enough for them to hear the difference.

remember that most tankless will only produce 7gpm. and that's with decent ground water temperature. in cold climate, i doubt you'll get 5gpm on a 199,000 btu heater.

i really need to track enough months on my gas bill to make the comparison. right now the delay and the volume drop are most noticeable.

rick.

[NHMaster3015]

Re: My tankless experience summary

There are two problems here Rick. Number on is that you are an experianced plumber and two is that you have the warewithall to be objective. I find these qualities lacking in most others.

Regardless of your findings though, unless you give it a big thumb's up, there will be a whole group telling you that your findings are bogus.

[theoak]

Re: My tankless experience summary

there is a definite drop in volume as the heater has to slow down the flow to heat up the water. i'm sure you see the volume self adjust when you first open a faucet all the way.

if you open a tub faucet that has no flow restrictions, you'll see the drop of volume.

my 3/4'' deck valve for the tub is not only noticeable in person, but on a phone call to another forum member. just holding the phone to the tub and turning the cold on, then doing the hot was enough for them to hear the difference.

remember that most tankless will only produce 7gpm. and that's with decent ground water temperature. in cold climate, i doubt you'll get 5gpm on a 199,000 btu heater.

i really need to track enough months on my gas bill to make the comparison. right now the delay and the volume drop are most noticeable.

rick.

For my sink taps, I notice no change going from hot to cold ... I haven't tried the tubs in a while ... with the colder water that would be a good test. In the past though, I have noticed no change for a single appliance. For my tubs though I have one of those faucets where there is a single dial going from cold to hot ... I have no control over the rate of flow.

The delay in my house has always been terrible. Especially my downstairs master bath. I would get hot water there, turn the tap off, a minute later turn the hot water on again, and it would be cold ... it made no difference of course going to tankless. I did not notice the delay so much in the summer, but definitely in the winter.

In your warm climate it would be interesting to see how a tankless fairs.

[DELCASE]

Re: My tankless experience summary

If people werent so amazed with their new tankless water heater

Wow i turn on the faucet and it comes on ..that is just amazing

Bring your friends and family

All the money were going to save

THEY should be thinking , I paid to much ,who is the rocket scientist that can fix this when the burner wont come on...when i turn on my faucet,
HOW long will this 8$ a month savings take to pay for my new toy .

DO your self a favor and by a tank

[PLUMBER RICK]

Re: My tankless experience summary

For my sink taps, I notice no change going from hot to cold ... I haven't tried the tubs in a while ... with the colder water that would be a good test. In the past though, I have noticed no change for a single appliance. For my tubs though I have one of those faucets where there is a single dial going from cold to hot ... I have no control over the rate of flow.

i have a 3/4'' roman deck valve for my tub. it can deliver in excess of 16gpm of cold and now only approx 6 -7gpm of hot. but open another faucet and the faucet is dead.

The delay in my house has always been terrible. Especially my downstairs master bath. I would get hot water there, turn the tap off, a minute later turn the hot water on again, and it would be cold ... it made no difference of course going to tankless. I did not notice the delay so much in the summer, but definitely in the winter.



In your warm climate it would be interesting to see how a tankless fairs.

remember that a tank heater delivers hot water out the instant a faucet is turned on.
with a tankless there is approx a 6-10 second delay to come up to temperature. add this to your normal pipe run delay and it adds up to even a longer delay and waste of water/ gas.

i have to pre run my sink in the kitchen to warm up the line from my energy efficent washer. since it cycles to fill, the machine will shut off the tankless on the on off cycle. by pre heating, i have a supply of hot in the lines that will mix with the cycle of water.

rick.

[NHMaster3015]

Re: My tankless experience summary

Got this link from Terry's forum. Well worth looking at though the congreation will no doubt dismiss it as herasy.

http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/waterheating.htm#lcc

[BobsPlumbing]

Re: My tankless experience summary

Got this link from Terry's forum. Well worth looking at though the congreation will no doubt dismiss it as herasy.

http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/waterheating.htm#lcc

Thanks NH. I remember reading it some time ago but lost it.

I asked twice here about heat pump water heaters. Good, bad, whatever & noone knew anything except slow recovery time.

J.C.

[MPMGinAL]

Re: My tankless experience summary

Heat Pump water heater -- Big time efficiency, Big Big tank!! Expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However I am all for them as you would need to be a licensed plumber and HVAC tech to install, as i am!!!!

[BobsPlumbing]

Re: My tankless experience summary

The only info I ever found on them was at a plumbing show. I have the info around somewhere. I think it was FHP.

Ever work with one? Costs?

J.C.

[BobsPlumbing]

Re: My tankless experience summary

Anyone? Any type?

I can't find the darn info. It had a unit on top of the heater. Supposed to be very efficient & great for basement humidity if you can put one there.

Just can't find anybody working with them.

J.C.

[NHMaster3015]

Re: My tankless experience summary

J.C, I just had a comparison of heat pumps, both goe and conventional but I can't seem to fint it now. I'll keep looking. Anyway the up-shot was that they performed about as well as tankless and solar systems. Expensive and marginally efficient at best.

[theoak]

Good link.

Got this link from Terry's forum. Well worth looking at though the congreation will no doubt dismiss it as herasy.

http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/waterheating.htm#lcc

The page was last updated in August of 2007, so some of the data may be a little old.

With that being said, it has been a page that showed up quite frequently for "tankless" Googels (or the like) in the past.

[DELCASE]

Re: My tankless experience summary

We have a ice storm moving in tonight
sure makes me wish i had a gas water heater that wouldnt come on without power

[HebertDrainCare]

Re: My tankless experience summary

Guess we have colder weather coming. Thanks for the heads up

[drtyhands]

Re: My tankless experience summary

We have a ice storm moving in tonight
sure makes me wish i had a gas water heater that wouldnt come on without power

Better start filling up some containers just in case.
I see people using sparkletts water bottles on TV when there's an event on it's way.