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All costs are energy: Hidden cost of tankless water heater
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Bobby Dollar says, whoa, that's a long boring list of facts, but I need to know |
Tankless? The cost
of saving $1-8 per month All costs are energy: Hidden cost of tankless water heater Search
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| Before
buying a tankless: 1 Ask questions. If tankless reduced bills, there would be news, not promotion. There is no news. 2. Read warranty instead of promo literature. Warranty is same as ordinary tank heater. 3. Look at parts sheet and ask how expensive future problems will be. 4. Check if certified repair person available in your area before buying. 5. Tankless heaters require softener & filter, and yearly de-liming. Read manual 6. Check water pressure > low pressure will cause tankless to stop heating 7. The promise of unlimited hot water is not consistent with energy savings 8. Add up BTUs of your gas appliances to see if gas meter is large enough 9. Keep manufacturer website and trouble page in your records. Check if manufacturer website offers in-depth troubleshoot resources. 10. Read researched information below |
| Promoters have claimed 20 year life-span, endless hot water, with 58%
energy savings. What is the truth? > Using a lot of hot water will cost more. Reduce consumption and you save money no matter what type water heater. > GAS Whole-house tankless gas saves $1 - $8 per month for average family of 4 if consumption is reduced > minus hidden costs listed below > ELECTRIC Whole-house tankless electric does NOT save money or energy. It costs more, since electricity cannot heat water as fast as gas. > In some cases, if the tankless has enough power, you can get 'endless' hot water. But typically, if the incoming cold water drops below a certain level, the tankless will simply not activate, or deliver any hot water. > Tankless have 6 year warranty. The heat exchanger might have 20 year limited warranty. Read Bradford White side-by-side test conclusion: "tankless fall far short of payback, and cannot be exposed to more than 11 grains water hardness." |
|
Hidden
costs of owning tankless water heater:
> > Hot water takes just as long to reach faucet > tankless is not 'instant' unless located under sink or next to bathroom > Minimum 1/2 to 2/3 gallon per minute water flow before tankless turns on. Faucet located far away might not activate heater immediately. Consumer might wait longer for hot water to arrive. Hot water may not arrive. Ask questions. > Many tankless are installed outdoors to avoid the larger vent, and larger demand for adequate fresh air compared with tank heaters. This can mean water heater is farther from usage points in house, so hot takes longer to arrive. > Outdoor tankless units have internal heater to keep unit from freezing in winter, which adds standby cost similar to storage-type heaters. > Tankless need more fresh air to support high combustion rates. If tankless is located inside home, this action draws air through doors and windows and works against HVAC. > Tankless warranty does not match 20-year promotion claims > check warranty papers, since repairs will leave you without hot water until parts arrive. > Parts are not available at local store. Parts not interchangeable between brands. Parts may not be available on weekend. If tankless unit lasts 20 years as claimed, who will carry parts in year 15? Ask questions. > Problems are difficult to diagnose. Causes can be from a number of combined internal and external factors. No hot water during delay. > Homeowner dependent on professional service. Repairs are not done DIY or by lower-cost handyman. Tankless are complicated electronic computers. Service technician trainned for you specific model is required. > Tankless problems vary from brand to brand. Most tank-type heaters have the same array of problems no matter which brand. > You are connecting motherboard and sensors to electrical and plumbing systems, and to a gas burner with vent to outdoors. These things each have problems without adding a computer. The computer adds another layer of repair complexity. > Self-installed tankless can void warranty. Read manual. Each brand has installation protocol that must be followed for warranty to take effect. > No hot water during power outage > no power to electronics, no hot water at tap. Some tank-type heaters also require electricity, and will not activate burner without power, but the storage tank will still deliver hot water to the tap. > Instruction manual recommends cleaning combustion parts yearly, de-liming yearly, cleaning air filter yearly, and cleaning water filter monthly. Constant maintenance is a nusiance and eliminates savings. Read tankless instruction manual and compare with tank-type water heater. > Tankless are prone to lime build-up in heat exchanger. Heating water causes chemicals to distill and settle inside all water heaters. The hoter the burner, the more chemicals are disilled from water. Tankless burner consumes larges volumes of gas to heat water as it passes quickly inside pipe. So tankless burn hotter, and have more problems with scale build-up. Tankless must be de-limed each year, adding long-term expense. > Softener and filter are required. Tankless cannot be exposed to hard water greater than 11 grains or parts will clog and fail within 2 years. Read research pdf > Promised savings do not match reality. > Exception: household with reduced consumption, and with bath/kitchen located near tankless unit will realize more savings than home with multiple tankless units blazing each time a bath is run. > Tankless consume more energy per gallon of water heated than storage-type heater. Read manual . Tankless gas heaters require larger gas line and larger exhaust vent. > Undersized gas line or gas meter will cause tankless and other gas appliances to malfunction. > Tankless use more energy per minute of operation than storage-type heaters. Endless hot water costs more per gallon to heat. The only thing the tankless will save, is standby loss found with storage-type tank heaters. Since 2015, manufacturers have added more insulation to tank-type heaters, effectively reducing standby loss. > Tankless cannot be connected to vent-pipe heat exchanger. Each gas burning appliance sends heat up vent stack. This is wasted energy. Heat exchanger can recapture some heat. If tankless vent has a heat exchanger, the combustion by-product is slowed, combustion will slow, causing tankless to turn off. > Tankless cannot store heat gathered from other sources. In comparison, storage-type heaters can store heat gathered from heat-pump-exchanger, solar-heating, geothermal, drain water recovery & wood stove etc. > Gas: Converting from tank-type heater to tankless-gas is 3x more expensive. Larger gas line is required. Larger vent. Read installation spec sheet & ask questions. > Electric: Converting to tankless-electric can require additional 90-120 Amp demand on service panel. Check amp requirement of unit. Check main breaker to see if total amps matches requirement. New breaker panel and service may be necessary. Read tankless spec sheet & ask questions. How to wire tankless electric > Promise of unlimited hot water not consistent with energy savings. > Low water pressure causes tankless computer to shut down burner. Low water pressure does not effect operation of tank heaters. > Tankless might not be able to heat incoming cold water during winter without installing oversized unit or additional tempering tank. See tempering tank > Tankless temperature is pre-set to 120 degrees. Turning temperature higher can cause error codes especially if incoming water is cold. Read tankless manual to see how to adjust temperature. If adjustment is not simple do-it-yourself, then that can add a service call. > Raising thermostat setting on tankless means that less hot water is available. Tankless may not achieve thermostat setting if incoming water is cold. > Future planning: Storage-type heaters can be adapted to meet future needs: For example: low-flow water systems that conserve water; integration with solar; integration with heat-exchangers. Tankless are limited to hydrocarbon fuel and high water flow. > Recapturing CO2 from gas appliances at each home is not likely > converting to electric water heat could be the future, since CO2 from electric generation can be centrally recaptured at power plant when technology discovers method. > Your storage tank works fine. It is easy to fix and replace. It is cheaper over the long term. There are many ways to reduce costs and save with storage-type heaters. |
| Homeowner
can troubleshoot and fix regular water heater problems the same day
<> no waiting Tankless heaters are high tech gadgets that don't live up to hype Troubleshoot Rheem Tankless water heater Troubleshoot Bosch Tankless water heater Troubleshoot gas water heater Troubleshoot electric water heater |
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| Read more Bradford White side-by-side test results Consumer Reports on tankless Common problems with tankless Tankless turns-on after toilet is flushed Difficult to diagnose noise in tankless 1-year-old tankless is blowing breaker Government site for energy efficiency 'Department of Energy efficiency requirements' Read pdf Battelle study |
 Check water pressure in house over full day > low pressure causes tankless to stop heating Ask questions Read warranty instead of promo literature Look at parts sheet and ask how expensive future problems will be Check community conservation plans > tankless require high water flow Water problems with sediment and lime will adversely affect hi-tech tankless Unlimited hot water is not consistent with energy savings or water conservation |
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Dual
GAS
tankless shown here is not about saving energy or money. It is about delivering large volume of hot water. Evidence is 1-1/4" incoming cold water pipe and 1" hot water to house. Fire alarm and sprinkler are likely from local building code. Notice large 1" black-pipe gas line and 3/4" gas line running nearly to heaters. Tankless units use large volumes of energy to heat water as it flows past in a pipe. Notice large vent pipes on top of tankless. Once hot gas leaves tankless, heat is lost up the vent. Regular gas water heaters have spiral heat-exchanger inside tank see that recaptures some heat before it exits tank |
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Here is a parallel
installation of tankless electric Objective of this installation is so 2 people can shower/bath at same time while someone else washes hands. Notice 3 heavy electric lines. This system requires 120 Amps under full demand. Today's service panels are 100 or 200 Amp (look at your main breaker for total panel amperage). Unless service panel is upgraded, full 120A demand will be too large a load. Other electrical devices will not work right. This level of consumption does not help ordinary consumers whose bill is driven-up by high demand. Tankless heaters use large amounts of electricity to heat water as it flows past in pipe. Transfer of electric energy into heat energy is less efficient than gas. Unless consumption is reduced, this system is energy wasteful and more costly to consumer than regular tank. |
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