Tankless Hot water heaters

[gchart57]

This question has probably been answered some place but I'll ask again. We have a mobile home in southwest Florida that is used by two adults 98% and then sometimes three adults. What size electric tankless hot water heater would be best for us. One bathroom, kitchen and bathroom sink and we do not wash clothes with hot water, cold water hook up only for that.


Thanks for your help everyone!

[jpingram5]

Those electric ones can use up to 6 slots on the circuit panel so make sure you have space. There's no real size but more like how many things you want to run hot water all at once? Most will list what they are capable of ex; like some can do 2 showers and a sink all at once and flow at 5.0gpm and so on.

[KLBoldon]

Are you thinking whole house? or point of use (a small one near each sink/shower, etc..)

Whole house like JP said need a lot of electricity. Check this link out for one I considered at Menards. http://www.menards.com/main/store/20090 ... lec_UC.pdf

You need (2) 60 Amp Breakers and you need to run 6 GA wiring.

I ultimately decided against it because of the wiring, my inconsistent water pressure (I am on a well water), and climate (cold wisco winters).

[Greg S]

KL brings up a valid point for consideration. These can cause problems if connected to a well especially in a park. they do require minimum flow rates/water pressure to operate. On in my park shuts off if water pressure drops below 30 psi.

[jpingram5]

Yes, that is a downfall to them. I have a propane Rinnai tankless and they claim they can operate down to 20 PSI. So make sure you looking into that or monitor your water pressure by throwing a gauge on and see if it stays good.

To be honest if there's only 2 people there and then sometimes a third, I wouldn't bother going tankless. You really won't see any big savings. A $250 - $300 40 Gallon Electric tank should be just fine.

[ponch37300]

The only reason I would ever personally go with an on demand heater would be for space. From what I understand the rate of return on the savings isn't really all that great. There's lots of variables involved but if you figure the one time purchase cost and then the yearly operating costs the on demand system would take about 15-20 years to start saving you any money, and the life expectancy is only about 20 years. So you may actually never "save" any money. Here's a decent article about them, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010 ... -hot-water. Another one by the California Energy Commission, http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/hom ... aters.html. You can also go to the US department of Energy and look into costs to see operating costs and savings. To me it's just not worth it yet. Also most on demand units can't put out as many gallons per minute as a traditional water heater. The one nice thing about them is they are smaller and I did look into them for that reason alone because our water heater closet is in our kitchen which we are in the process of redoing and it would have been great to get an extra 2x2 square area up to the ceiling. But just couldn't justify the cost for the little return.

This is just my opinion on them, if they work for you then great, but I just don't see a purpose for them yet.

[JeffInFL]

Would a water pressure booster pump help if low pressure was an issue?

I had a tankless hot water heater in my stick built home years ago after the original water tank blew up, and I loved it. It was great being able to wash a big load of dishes and not running out of hot water. The space savings is also nice .. it was almost like gaining a whole new closet!

[jpingram5]

A booster pump or constant pressure pump will certainly help if you have pressure drops.

I put my tankless water heater in last summer and based off the money I am saving since I installed it, it will have paid its self off next year. So my tankless water heater only took 2 years to pay itself off. This is a Rinnai propane tankless so I'm not sure about electric one's or other one's but this one is working great. A big family will benefit from tankless. 1 or 2 people it's not worth it, just get a tank.

[gchart57]

I'm considering the unit for a place in southwest florida where the water temperature is warmer than most areas plus our water pressure is really high so not worried there. It's just a single wide with one bathroom so there might be a chance that a shower and sink might be used at the same time. The washer does not have hot water hooked to it.