Electric Tankless Water Heaters
 

About two years ago I purchased a 4unit apartment building in Houston.
Each unit has 1 bathroom and a kitchen, no dishwashers or w/d, each with
it's own water heater in the kitchen (a real eyesore). I'd like to
replace the conventional electric water heaters with tankless models to
conserve space and improve the appearance. Has anybody had any
experience with these units? I know that the current circuits will need
to be upgraded from 30amp to at least 50amp. Other than that, is the
installation pretty much plug-and-play? Is there any radiant heat
generated from the operation of the units? Do they make any noise while
operating?

David Sumner wrote:

About two years ago I purchased a 4unit apartment building in Houston.
Each unit has 1 bathroom and a kitchen, no dishwashers or w/d, each with
it's own water heater in the kitchen (a real eyesore). I'd like to
replace the conventional electric water heaters with tankless models to
conserve space and improve the appearance.

Wow. About every other month, someone posts here thinking that this wonderful
new hot water system they dicovered called tankless is going to save them a
bunch of money every month. This is the first time someone actually has a good
reason!

Has anybody had any
experience with these units? I know that the current circuits will need
to be upgraded from 30amp to at least 50amp. Other than that, is the
installation pretty much plug-and-play? Is there any radiant heat
generated from the operation of the units? Do they make any noise while
operating?


State Industries has done a good whitepaper on tankless considerations,
including power requirements and installation.

http://www.stateind.com/new/Tankless_WhitePaper.pdf

Thanks a lot!!! This is incredibly helpful reading.

Clark W. Griswold, Jr. wrote:
David Sumner wrote:


About two years ago I purchased a 4unit apartment building in Houston.
Each unit has 1 bathroom and a kitchen, no dishwashers or w/d, each with
it's own water heater in the kitchen (a real eyesore). I'd like to
replace the conventional electric water heaters with tankless models to
conserve space and improve the appearance.


Wow. About every other month, someone posts here thinking that this wonderful
new hot water system they dicovered called tankless is going to save them a
bunch of money every month. This is the first time someone actually has a good
reason!


Has anybody had any
experience with these units? I know that the current circuits will need
to be upgraded from 30amp to at least 50amp. Other than that, is the
installation pretty much plug-and-play? Is there any radiant heat
generated from the operation of the units? Do they make any noise while
operating?



State Industries has done a good whitepaper on tankless considerations,
including power requirements and installation.

http://www.stateind.com/new/Tankless_WhitePaper.pdf

I have a tankless water heater in my home and it works great! Have you
looked at the Seisco? You should try them out - they're a local
company. You can visit there website a www.seisco.com or call them.

Bob

David Sumner wrote:
Thanks a lot!!! This is incredibly helpful reading.

Clark W. Griswold, Jr. wrote:
David Sumner wrote:


About two years ago I purchased a 4unit apartment building in Houston.
Each unit has 1 bathroom and a kitchen, no dishwashers or w/d, each with
it's own water heater in the kitchen (a real eyesore). I'd like to
replace the conventional electric water heaters with tankless models to
conserve space and improve the appearance.


Wow. About every other month, someone posts here thinking that this wonderful
new hot water system they dicovered called tankless is going to save them a
bunch of money every month. This is the first time someone actually has a good
reason!


Has anybody had any
experience with these units? I know that the current circuits will need
to be upgraded from 30amp to at least 50amp. Other than that, is the
installation pretty much plug-and-play? Is there any radiant heat
generated from the operation of the units? Do they make any noise while
operating?



State Industries has done a good whitepaper on tankless considerations,
including power requirements and installation.

http://www.stateind.com/new/Tankless_WhitePaper.pdf

"bob" wrote:

I have a tankless water heater in my home and it works great!

The issue is not whether they work well or not. Assuming the tankless heater is
from a reputable manufacturer and is installed properly, it should work fine
under most conditions. There are some corner conditions (like very low flow)
where they may or may not work so well.

The issue is whether or not it is cheaper to use tankless over a storage tank.
While tankless can be less expensive to run in some situations, the overall cost
when you look at acquisition, installation, operation and replacement is at best
equal and in many cases more than would be for a storeage tank system.

That said, there are a few situations (like retrofit, vacation home, unusual
architecture) where you might be willing to pay the extra cost to solve a
specific problem.

"David Sumner" wrote in message
...
About two years ago I purchased a 4unit apartment building in Houston. Each
unit has 1 bathroom and a kitchen, no dishwashers or w/d, each with it's own
water heater in the kitchen (a real eyesore). I'd like to replace the
conventional electric water heaters with tankless models to conserve space and
improve the appearance. Has anybody had any experience with these units? I
know that the current circuits will need to be upgraded from 30amp to at least
50amp. Other than that, is the installation pretty much plug-and-play? Is
there any radiant heat generated from the operation of the units? Do they
make any noise while operating?

This is Turtle.

If your planning on staying with electric power to have a tankless set up, you
in for a surprize here. Your going to need about a 125 amp to 200 amp electric
service to keep a steady good temperature of hot water to a shower and a
kitchen. You might in some cases need a add a 200 amp new meter pan up grade or
add a 200 amp meter pan and electric service. It's not just plug and play.

You might look at natural gas hot water system and is easily set up with just
running a 1/2" natural gas line to it and can be put in a inside wall or closet
or on a outside wall. it would 1/3 the cost for heating water and digital
controlled of the temperature of the water from 90ºF to 160ºF and supply about 9
GPM depending on the temp.

TURTLE