I Like Soup Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 (edited) Don't know anything about it. Details, links, info? How it works from Howstuffworks.com More info... You can go with a home solution or a point of use solution. I would think the point of use solution would be more of a pain. The home solution...say....4-6 GPM costs anywhere from $600 to $1000 and they last over 20 years. The initial investment is higher than a standard water heater, but over the long run, it works out. I've been thinking of it more and more as a customer of mine told me he switched to one and his family loves it (read: wife and two daughters...so you know they are using a lot of shower water! )! Edited May 23, 2007 by I Like Soup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 (read: wife and two daughters...so you know they are using a lot of shower water! )! mah pants are tight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 mah pants are tight... you need to go to Hugh's house and take a cold shower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 you need to go to Hugh's house and take a cold shower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 When it is time to replace, would you consider a tankless water heater? I've been thinking about doing that. yup they be the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 Well Hugh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted May 29, 2007 Author Share Posted May 29, 2007 Well Hugh? Haven't done anything yet. Going to do some research based on the good advice/info/suggestions I received in this thread. I'm going to be pro-active and change it out some time this summer. Once I decide, I'll update this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 seems like getting a tankless to avoid running all the pipes and chit through the basement seems like a no-brainer. i'm definitely getting a tankless once my current WH starts showing any signs of wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 seems like getting a tankless to avoid running all the pipes and chit through the basement seems like a no-brainer. i'm definitely getting a tankless once my current WH starts showing any signs of wear. I think I'll do the same. Of course, my house is only 4 years old so I may have to wait awhile or bring my water heater down to Grunge's place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 I think I'll do the same. Of course, my house is only 4 years old so I may have to wait Don't worry, I'll take care of it next time I'm in town... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 Don't worry, I'll take care of it next time I'm in town... I'll put the coffee table in front of it to protect it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Score 1 Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 Word of advice on the Tankless Hot Water Heaters. If you go whole house Gas, you'll probably need to upgrade your gas lines to a larger diameter to get the necessary amount of gas to the unit. They also vent extremely hot. Standard vent pipes are not capable of handling the heat & will also need to be replaced. If you go whole house electric, you need to make sure you're not maxed out at your service panel. Also if you're in an older house & only have 100 Amp service coming in, you'll need to upgrade to at least 200 Amp serviceYou'll need four poles available to be able to put in 2 220V circuts & of course the wiring to the heater it self. Regardless of Gas or Electric Tankless Hot Water Heaters, understand it takes quite a bit more time for the hot water to come out the faucet, than with traditional Hot Water Heaters. Over the course of a year, you'll be sending many more thousands of gallons of perfectly useable water down the drain, than you do with your current Hot Water Heater. Also understand, that unless you get a legitimate whole house tankless, you'll only be able to operate one hot water application at a time. You definitely won't be able to take simultaneous showers. You will have a service schedule for whichever fueled unit you decide to go with. There's a filter that needs to be replaced every six months & a few other things that are specific to Tankless Heaters. Lastly make sure there are plumbers who can work on whichever brand Tankless Heater you go with. Heard horror stories about people buying these units, only to find there's noone qualified to work on them in their area. As to your existing Hot Water Heater, or if you decide to replace it with another traditional unit, I'd advise completely flushing it twice per year. Depending on the composition / quality of your water, it can leave a lot of deposits, which if left in the tank, will greatly shorten it's life. Also it's not a bad idea to replace the sacrificial anode rod every 5 years or so. I've properly maintained & serviced our 50 gal Gas Hot Water Heater for the last 15 years & am shooting for 5 more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoopazz Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Geothermal is good too. But very expensive, so you'll need to be sure you are staying put for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballjoe Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I just want to add that getting a tankless Water Heater because you do not want pipes running in your basement is not factual. Whether you have a tank or tankless system you have to have pipes going and coming from it. True, you do not have a tank on the tankless but it does have a coil that could go bad after time. As long as water is piped into the house there is a chance of a leak. The only solution would be to use a well and a outhouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Word of advice on the Tankless Hot Water Heaters. If you go whole house Gas, you'll probably need to upgrade your gas lines to a larger diameter to get the necessary amount of gas to the unit. They also vent extremely hot. Standard vent pipes are not capable of handling the heat & will also need to be replaced. If you go whole house electric, you need to make sure you're not maxed out at your service panel. Also if you're in an older house & only have 100 Amp service coming in, you'll need to upgrade to at least 200 Amp serviceYou'll need four poles available to be able to put in 2 220V circuts & of course the wiring to the heater it self. Regardless of Gas or Electric Tankless Hot Water Heaters, understand it takes quite a bit more time for the hot water to come out the faucet, than with traditional Hot Water Heaters. Over the course of a year, you'll be sending many more thousands of gallons of perfectly useable water down the drain, than you do with your current Hot Water Heater. Also understand, that unless you get a legitimate whole house tankless, you'll only be able to operate one hot water application at a time. You definitely won't be able to take simultaneous showers. You will have a service schedule for whichever fueled unit you decide to go with. There's a filter that needs to be replaced every six months & a few other things that are specific to Tankless Heaters. Lastly make sure there are plumbers who can work on whichever brand Tankless Heater you go with. Heard horror stories about people buying these units, only to find there's noone qualified to work on them in their area. As to your existing Hot Water Heater, or if you decide to replace it with another traditional unit, I'd advise completely flushing it twice per year. Depending on the composition / quality of your water, it can leave a lot of deposits, which if left in the tank, will greatly shorten it's life. Also it's not a bad idea to replace the sacrificial anode rod every 5 years or so. I've properly maintained & serviced our 50 gal Gas Hot Water Heater for the last 15 years & am shooting for 5 more. Damn, BS............If all that is true (Ihave no reason to deny any of it), that is some great info!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I just want to add that getting a tankless Water Heater because you do not want pipes running in your basement is not factual. Whether you have a tank or tankless system you have to have pipes going and coming from it. True, you do not have a tank on the tankless but it does have a coil that could go bad after time. As long as water is piped into the house there is a chance of a leak. The only solution would be to use a well and a outhouse. well, obviously. i was talking specifically about the lines to his sump pump hugh was talking about installing from his old WH tank. i am pretty sure the tankless WHs flood a lot fewer basements than the tanks do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Geothermal is good too. But very expensive, so you'll need to be sure you are staying put for a long time. yah i wish i could afford this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Score 1 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Geothermal is good too. But very expensive, so you'll need to be sure you are staying put for a long time. Well, that's true, but only if you're replacing your entire HVAC system. Geothermal is great for a Tanked Hot Water Heater system, but currently useless for Tankless Hot Water Heater systems. If you apply Geothermal to a Tanked Hot Water Heater system, during the summer months, you'll basically end up with free hot water. The De Superheater on the Geothermal HVAC system (most Geothermal HVAC systems now have the De Superheater set up to automatically bleed off the heat to a Tanked Hot Water Heater - best to check though as some Geothermal manufacturers still do not set their systems up that way & it would be an added expense) will provide all the heat needed in the summer. If gas, your burner will not have to fire up & if electric, your element will not be called upon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Thanks BS, great info. Thanks to everyone for the replies. Dumb question: You mentioned flushing regular hot water heaters twice a year, how do you do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Thanks BS, great info. Thanks to everyone for the replies. Dumb question: You mentioned flushing regular hot water heaters twice a year, how do you do that? Open the safety valve (a little lever) for a few seconds, and then open the sill cock on the bottom of the heater and drain off for several minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Score 1 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Open the safety valve (a little lever) for a few seconds, and then open the sill cock on the bottom of the heater and drain off for several minutes. Just to ad to that. 1st) Shut off the cold water to your Hot Water Heater. 2nd) Turn off the gas / electric to the Hot Water Heater. 3rd) Open a hot water faucet somewhere, so that when you open the drain cock there is no vacum & the water can drain. 4th) What rocknrobn26 said. After you've drained it, don't close the drain cock right away. Open the cold water valve and flush water through the tank for a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Just to ad to that. 1st) Shut off the cold water to your Hot Water Heater. 2nd) Turn off the gas / electric to the Hot Water Heater. 3rd) Open a hot water faucet somewhere, so that when you open the drain cock there is no vacum & the water can drain. 4th) What rocknrobn26 said. After you've drained it, don't close the drain cock right away. Open the cold water valve and flush water through the tank for a bit. Better way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missoula Griz Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I have a natural gas hot water heater in mah basement. How often should those be changed? Last thing I want is for that f*cker to spring a leak and flood mah basement. It was installed in 1999. What's the rule of thumb? I was thinking 10 years. I just spent the last two days dealing with a flood in my basement because the line to the hot water heater blew. We dont use our basement much so it was probably spraying for a good 12 hours before my son went to use the computer downstairs and the carpet was wet. The steam in the supply room was so strong that I could not open the door by hand. I had to do charge it and knock it open with my shoulder. Scared the piss out of me. The plumber said the line was too small for the heater? My wife's aunt owns a carpet cleaning business which also deals with flooding and such. Being Memorial Day, it took a few phone calls to locate everyone, but they came within an hour and had all their pumps and blowers set up. The house was build less then 4 years ago. Sometime stuff just happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrudge Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 If you go whole house Gas, you'll probably need to upgrade your gas lines to a larger diameter to get the necessary amount of gas to the unit. They also vent extremely hot. Standard vent pipes are not capable of handling the heat & will also need to be replaced.You can find condensing boilers that can also be used for tankless water heaters. It will condense the exhaust gases to a point where it can be exhausted out the side of the house through PVC. Regardless of Gas or Electric Tankless Hot Water Heaters, understand it takes quite a bit more time for the hot water to come out the faucet, than with traditional Hot Water Heaters. Over the course of a year, you'll be sending many more thousands of gallons of perfectly usable water down the drain, than you do with your current Hot Water Heater.Some of that money is recuperated by not heating pipes through convection too. Also understand, that unless you get a legitimate whole house tankless, you'll only be able to operate one hot water application at a time. You definitely won't be able to take simultaneous showers.Agreed. The units that we sell through our company I know are marketed as 1 application, 2 application, etc. I would figure on 3GPM per application, so if you wanted to wash clothes and take a shower, you would need a 2 application or 6GPM unit. While the limited capacity can be an issue, it can be negated with planning. Say you have 3 women that all take showers in the evening in the same bathroom. With a tank heater, the last person probably wouldn't have hot water. With a tank design though they all would. You just couldn't wash clothes at the same time. Also don't forget that you may qualify for up a $300 tax credit for a tankless design if it qualifies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I'd have to go with the "when your hot water isn't hot anymore" theory in when to replace your hot water heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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