Paint the world's roofs white and Global Warming will be forestalled!

The time it takes to fill the 5 gal pail will tell you your gal/m ratio. That's critical to ensure that the heater can heat the water fast enough at full flow. Higher amp units can heat either the same amount of water per minute to a higher temp, or a larger volume to the same temp. An example (pulling the numbers outta my ass)

a 20A unit can heat : +35C@ 5g/m .. +30C@6g/m .. +25C@7g/m
a 30A unit can heat : +40C@ 5g/m .. +35C@6g/m .. +30C@7g/m

So knowing the temp you want to achieve and the flow rate lets you see (on the manufacturers chart) which unit will best serve.

These heaters do have one significant advantage over a hot water tank, which is also it's prime disadvantage .... sized correctly, you never run yourself out of water. This can lead to much longer showers than planned, and an inordinately high hydro bill as a result. Also, their short time draws are significantly higher. Cost savings are only realized when the water in your tank sits stagnant for a time. The more hot water you use in a day, the less your savings will be. Much like a hybrid car, you only really save gas in heavy traffic. In fact, the difference can be even more greatly balanced by upgrading to a modern hot water tank, and wrapping a hot-water tank jacket around it and insulating any hot water pipes you can access.

BTW, if you don't have anyone else and want/need help replacing the tank, I've done several. Alternately, my tooling is at your disposal. No point in buying all the kit when mine sits idle.
 
Professur said:
These heaters do have one significant advantage over a hot water tank, which is also it's prime disadvantage .... sized correctly, you never run yourself out of water. This can lead to much longer showers than planned, and an inordinately high hydro bill as a result. Also, their short time draws are significantly higher. Cost savings are only realized when the water in your tank sits stagnant for a time. The more hot water you use in a day, the less your savings will be. Much like a hybrid car, you only really save gas in heavy traffic. In fact, the difference can be even more greatly balanced by upgrading to a modern hot water tank, and wrapping a hot-water tank jacket around it and insulating any hot water pipes you can access.

BTW, if you don't have anyone else and want/need help replacing the tank, I've done several. Alternately, my tooling is at your disposal. No point in buying all the kit when mine sits idle.
Click to expand...

Thinking about the disadvantages, most tank hot water heaters sit unused between 18 and 20 hours a day. All that time, the burners are turning on and off keeping your tank at whatever temperature you've set it at. Insulating pipes and the tank are good, but you'd still wind up heating water you're not using at least an extra six hours per day. The biggest drawback is if you are running several things at once...ie washer, dishwasher, and showering at the same time.


BTW...why is your tool at his disposal? :D
 
better than having his is tool in his disposal.
garbage-disposal.jpg
 
Those dual roofs are fairly common here, even though many are not enclosed. They are usually found over mobile homes- a tin roof on eight or ten tall posts and a foot or two above the trailer's roof. Not only does it cut the A.C. bill but also greatly extends the life of the shingle roof of the trailer.
I've noticed a lot of people around here catching the rain water in big plastic drums with their gutter downspouts. That's just an update of the old cisterns that a lot of homes had in the colonial period and through most of the 19th century.
One old fellow in my vicinity has a 55-gallon drum painted black on the sunny side of his house for solar-heated water. Sure, he only has hot water in the afternoon/evening, but says that is the only time he needs it anyway. On cloudy days he gets by without. He's not trying to be 'green', just stingy!
 
I'd like a supplemental line heater or 2, but I want it solar powered.
oh and a right price.
 
We bought a tankless for our other house but were gone before seeing the full results. The only complaint we had was the initial wait...almost a full minute before hot water arrived.
 
Gonz said:
We bought a tankless for our other house but were gone before seeing the full results. The only complaint we had was the initial wait...almost a full minute before hot water arrived.
Click to expand...
Really? I'd certainly have to look into that before getting one then... that's a lot of water to waste and that's not a good thing in this part of the country.
 
MrBishop said:
I dunno - I've heard stories from both sides of the fence re: those. Roughly 2-3x the price of a tank.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are 2-3x the cost of a tank unit but what is important is the ROI. The thing should pay for itself in savings in about three to four years.
 
Gonz said:
We bought a tankless for our other house but were gone before seeing the full results. The only complaint we had was the initial wait...almost a full minute before hot water arrived.
Click to expand...
that's more of a plus for me. I turned down the temperature on my hot-water tank in order to avoid accidental burns for my kidlets. Saves money in the long run as well.
 
Professur said:
The time it takes to fill the 5 gal pail will tell you your gal/m ratio. That's critical to ensure that the heater can heat the water fast enough at full flow. Higher amp units can heat either the same amount of water per minute to a higher temp, or a larger volume to the same temp. An example (pulling the numbers outta my ass)

a 20A unit can heat : +35C@ 5g/m .. +30C@6g/m .. +25C@7g/m
a 30A unit can heat : +40C@ 5g/m .. +35C@6g/m .. +30C@7g/m

So knowing the temp you want to achieve and the flow rate lets you see (on the manufacturers chart) which unit will best serve.

These heaters do have one significant advantage over a hot water tank, which is also it's prime disadvantage .... sized correctly, you never run yourself out of water. This can lead to much longer showers than planned, and an inordinately high hydro bill as a result. Also, their short time draws are significantly higher. Cost savings are only realized when the water in your tank sits stagnant for a time. The more hot water you use in a day, the less your savings will be. Much like a hybrid car, you only really save gas in heavy traffic. In fact, the difference can be even more greatly balanced by upgrading to a modern hot water tank, and wrapping a hot-water tank jacket around it and insulating any hot water pipes you can access.

BTW, if you don't have anyone else and want/need help replacing the tank, I've done several. Alternately, my tooling is at your disposal. No point in buying all the kit when mine sits idle.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer. Payback for moving that toilet up north, eh :D

The tank and piping are already wrapped. Did that a few years ago, as far in as I could (roughly 15' in)

but but...I like long showers. :D For the kids, it's baths, neither like showers yet.
 
The missus was having a hard time with the boys and baths, so I stepped in and took over. If they wanted to play in the bath, they had to shower clean first. No more playing in dirty water. V3.0 was gonna try and fight it out, but when V4.0 went for it, he discovered taking a stand isn't really that much fun against the ol'Man. Now they actually look forward to it. V2.0 still prefers a long soak, tho. One thing that helped a lot was changing the shower head to one of these. Just like standing out in the rain, instead of having a fine hard spray right in the face.
 
I have this shower head. After discovering the usefulness of a handheld, especially in how much easier it makes it to wash up the nether regions, I don't know how I survived this long without one.
 
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