On-demand hot water heaters; do they work in the high country?

Aug 14, 2007 | 2 Comment

There is a new feature in a growing number of Summit County homes that saves money and is ecologically sound at the same time.  “On demand” or “tankless” hot water heaters are the latest and greatest.

When I was a kid growing up in New Zealand, most of us had an instant hot water tank on the wall by the kitchen sink.  We used it to make tea as it dispensed boiling hot water right into the tea pot, something near and dear to every New Zealander’s heart.  When we moved to the United States, we missed it, as we always had to boil water for our tea.  In fact, you don’t see it as many of them in New Zealand as you used to.  Most people have gone to electric tea kettles now. 

The new tankless hot water heaters remind me of the instant hot water we had way back then.  I have two of them in my house.  One is a hot water heater, and the other is a commercial unit that heats the water for my infloor radiant heat system.  Both are installed in one small closet.  They are small because they don’t have to store any water.  

The water just runs through them as it is heated.  What a waste of money and gas to heat and keep reheating a big tank of water all day long when no one is using it! 

I bought the new water heaters because my boiler and my hot water heater were aging relics and my gas bills were  higher than they should have been.  I was interested in saving money which in turn, saves energy.  These fixtures are relatively new to Summit County and when we installed them almost two years ago, we had trouble finding a plumber who knew anything about them.  The plumber we bought through had recently completed training on the Rinnai heaters and had installed about a dozen of them when he installed ours. 

I think he was still learning, as our bills went up, not down, and I had trouble getting water hot enough for a shower.  We thought it was perhaps because the bathroom was  a long way from the water heater.  We had him come back to check it, and lo and behold, he had forgotten to take out a piece that must come out when you use the water heater at high altitude.  After that, we had plenty of hot water and our bills decreased.  It had me worried for a while!  Apparently the gas water heater operates a bit like your car does in that it needs a certain amount of air to mix with the gas.  At higher altitudes, the air in the mixture needs to be more than at lower altitudes, and the piece that had not been removed blocked the air intake so that the gas did not burn completely.  Therefore the water didn’t get hot and the excess gas went out the vent and was wasted.

Now we have unlimited hot water and a couple of showers can be going at once.  Our hot water heat system is not a lot different that our old boiler was; at least I can’t tell much difference.  I do wish that the water heater were closer to the master bath as I don’t like wasting water when I empty the line of cold water between the two.  You can buy a little in-line booster if you have a place to put it, which I don’t, so I haven’t added one. 

I was reading a post about these water heaters on the blog of a Realtor friend of mine in College Station Texas, and she said something interesting:

Another benefit of the Tankless System is that heater life is typically extended. A standard water heater can last anywhere from 7-15 years. Most Tankless Systems have a life expectancy exceeding 20 years.

I wasn’t aware the lifespan was so long, so that is great news!  I am good to go for another 18 years I hope. 

A tax credit is available to you if you installed or are installing one of these water heaters in 2006 or 2007 (mine was installed in 2005 !).  Up to $300 can be used as a tax credit for certain energy saving options or changes that you make to your house.  www.tanklesstaxcredit.com is a website that will give you all the information about it. 

If you are looking for someone who knows about these water heaters locally, All American Heating in Breckenridge has a full line of “green” fixtures together with the knowhow and training to install them properly.  Their phone number is 970-406-1352.  The person that installed my water heaters is no longer in the County, but All American is the place to go, I hear!  Their website is also where I got the photo of the water heater as mine had too many cobwebs to take a photo! 

Some of my Realtor friends in other areas have also written some good posts on the same subject.  Check out “Tankless water heaters” by Eco-Broker, Stephanie Edwards-Musa of Houston and another, also called “Tankless water heaters” by Chris Tesch from College Station Texas.