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I'll take 2
(midwest.social)
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this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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I just learned these are a thing. Probably more energy Efficient thank keeping a warm tank of water in your house, I'm guessing?
Pretty much, plus you don't have to worry about running out of hot water. They're pretty nice, and surprisingly simple to install.
They're both good and bad. If you have older pipes that are narrower than modern pipes it can take a few minutes for the water to become hot. My parents live in a hundred year old house and installed one, it's nice once it finally warms up, but it can take a good few minutes. During the winter the water is ice cold and takes even longer to warm up.
They are disappointed with it, but they had already sunk like $5,000-$6500 USD on it.
Not that they want to spend more money, but a recirculating pump could help with this.
Thanks!
I can be. If you have a tank water heater it can be set up where it is off for most of the day but it will keep the water in the tank hot.
They are quite common in the UK, and have been the default for a couple of decades now. They are definitely more efficient, compared to a tank, as well as taking up far less space. You just need to make sure the model you choose can keep up with the demand. Nothing worse than a tepid shower.
The only situation I can see them being worse is with solar. If you have solar panels then dumping excess power into the water heater is a great way to not waste it. With a combi boiler, that is no longer an option.
It’s actually less energy efficient since it has to heat the water right then and there whereas a tank is insulated and builds on the heated water that’s already in there. But the trade off of basically infinite hot water and a smaller footprint is so worth it.
It's more efficient because there is no heat loss thst a tank suffers from even if it's insulated. It takes the same amount of energy to heat up water b N degrees. Doesn't matter how fast you do it. The real drawback is that it requires a much larger breaker and will likely need to run new wires. It may be an issue with your electrical if your panel doesn't have enough leeway.
That makes sense. As for the breaker if you’re using gas it actually runs on a standard 15-amp circuit (I have one), but it does require a potentially larger gas inlet which can be costly too, and you need a 4” exhaust which may require some retrofitting too.