Tankless on demand hot water, are they any good?

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by G
Don't get electric tanks. My brother has one and his bills are astronimical compared to my house all things taken into consideration, number of users, size of house....

Yeah i heard that too. My buddy went from electric back to gas.

[schocker]

Originally posted by 88CRX

So you'd want gas tank over electrical tank?

Absolutely, the amount of power it uses it very high. I have a recycle pump too so that doesn't help but instant hot water is very nice.

[Swank]

Can you add a recirc pump to any set up, or does the plumbing and/or tank need to be designed for that? I know very little about plumbing, so I'm confused how it would circulate.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Swank
Can you add a recirc pump to any set up, or does the plumbing and/or tank need to be designed for that? I know very little about plumbing, so I'm confused how it would circulate.

As it stands, your piping is probably one way from tank to faucets, etc. Makes sense for recirc there needs to be a line for it to flow back to the tank and pumped in circles.

[revelations]

Originally posted by redevil


I think there is a setup like this but as a storage tank for the hot water. Not sure how efficient it will be or if you can use your old tank.

I've heard this as well. Add extra insulation to the unit and it will hold water warm for a while, for sure.

[Swank]

Originally posted by jwslam

As it stands, your piping is probably one way from tank to faucets, etc. Makes sense for recirc there needs to be a line for it to flow back to the tank and pumped in circles.

That's what I was thinking too, drat.

[schocker]

Originally posted by Swank
Can you add a recirc pump to any set up, or does the plumbing and/or tank need to be designed for that? I know very little about plumbing, so I'm confused how it would circulate.

I have been on a this old house binge....



Looks like you can and it can push against the cold water line until the temp trips the pump to turn off.

[phreezee]

^That's old. They are installed on the tank with a bypass valve under the sink of the farthest line.

http://www.wattscanada.ca/pages/whatsnew/IHWRS.asp

I installed mine pretty easily with a utility knife, pex crimpers, and a wrench.

[schocker]

Ah, that one makes more sense and is much more clean.

[Swank]

Sweet. This is very tempting now, hot water takes ages to reach the washrooms

[suntan]

Originally posted by phreezee
^That's old. They are installed on the tank with a bypass valve under the sink of the farthest line.

http://www.wattscanada.ca/pages/whatsnew/IHWRS.asp

I installed mine pretty easily with a utility knife, pex crimpers, and a wrench.

Did it impact your electricity bill? I've read that some people have complained that they use a lot of electricity, but that might just be user error.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by phreezee
^That's old. They are installed on the tank with a bypass valve under the sink of the farthest line.

http://www.wattscanada.ca/pages/whatsnew/IHWRS.asp

I installed mine pretty easily with a utility knife, pex crimpers, and a wrench.

So then my cold water might not come out cold...

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by jwslam

So then my cold water might not come out cold...

That's what I was thinking too. You'll use just as much water getting cold water out of the tap, and use extra electricity instead of extra gas.

So no savings probably (results may vary), but just the convenience of warm/hot water instantly.

[Swank]

What do you need cold for? Only psychopaths take cold showers, and everyone on beyond drinks Veen or Kona Nigari from their mini water fridge in each room....well maybe some Fiji in this economy

[phreezee]

Originally posted by jwslam

So then my cold water might not come out cold...

The by-pass valve is temperature activated to only re-circ to cold side when the hot side temp drops below threshold.

The cold water is still cold, just not ice cold at first. If you run it 10 seconds it is back to normal.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by phreezee
The by-pass valve is temperature activated to only re-circ to cold side when the hot side temp drops below threshold.

The cold water is still cold, just not ice cold at first. If you run it 10 seconds it is back to normal.

So then instead of having to run water to get hot now, I'm bothered by having to run water to get cold

[phreezee]

It's moot for me because the only time I'd want really cold water is if I was going to drink it, but I have soft water coming to the bathrooms.

Kitchen line is separate and isn't affected.