On Apr 8, 11:57*am, Paul M. Eldridge
wrote:
On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 08:26:00 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
I don't think that's fair. * Ransley says he's actually bought one for
$500 and installed it himself relatively easy. *And he's happy with
the results. * I think his opinion is worth more than most here most
of whom don't have one and just sling mud. * *Especially those that
continue to spout misleading information, like "The heat loss from a
tank unit helps heat your home in the winter." * It's been pointed out
repeatidly that much of the waste heat in a gas tank unit goes up the
flue. *And the heat that escapes the sides of the tank only helps heat
the house if it happens to be in the living space, which isn't where
most are located. * * And then, in summer, the heat is still added to
the house and if you have AC as most do, then you're paying to remove
that heat. * *Yet, this same sad misinformation continues.

The OP has an electric water heater and electric units do not have
stack related losses. The only loss is through the tank wall and these
losses are less than 1 kWh per day if the tank has an EF of 0.93 or
better (the new minimum standard is 0.91).

Yes, but that has nothing to do with much of the mis-information and
slams directed against tankless units. All I'm saying is Ransley
actually has one, paid $500 for it, installed it without too much
effort and says it works well for him. That's some actual data,
instead of speculation.

Also, the vast majority of tankless are not going to be compared to
electric water heaters, but instead to gas ones. That's because
almost everywhere, it's cheaper to heat water with gas than electric.
So, someone looking for a water heater with gas available, isn't going
to be looking at electric and then you do have the heat loss via flue.



Secondly, if the tank is located inside a conditioned space any heat
loss through the wall *will* offset a portion of the home's space
heating demand. *If the home is electrically heated the net loss is
effectively zero during the heating season and for those who heat with
oil, the losses could result in a net positive gain now that
residential fuel oil is more expensive than electricity in many parts
of the country.

With respect to air conditioning, a central air unit with a SEER of 10
would eliminate 2.94 kWh of heat for every 1.0 kWh consumed (the ratio
is 3.8 kWh to 1 for a 13 SEER unit). *Thus, the additional a/c burden
for a 10 SEER model if tank losses are 0.91 kWh/day would be less than
10 kWh/month.

Cheers,
Paul

Yes, that's true, but as I already pointed out:


1 - At least one regular poster here continually mentions the winter
benefit of heat loss without regard to where the water heater is
located and totally ignores the AC impact in the summer.

2 - Most water heaters are not located in a conditioned space.

3 - In the grand scheme of things, this whole heat loss benefit is a
nit.