On Demand Water Heaters

[Flybye]

My dad (who was a retired contractor) decided the on-demand stuff was too expensive when they bought their place in FL, since it was an electric hot water heater, he just installed a switch (like a light switch). They would flip it on before bed and have hot sowers in the morning and then flip it off on their way out the door to work. It was a $2 solution, don't know if it would work with gas though?

I like this idea and we will be sure to ask about it!

[7rider]

I like this idea and we will be sure to ask about it!

My in-laws did something like this...had a timer attached to the w.h. somehow....so it fired up the water up b/f evening showers (they showered at night) and dish-washing.

[mimitabby]

I'm getting a tankless gas water heater TOMORROW!!!

[IFjane]

ooooh ooooh ooooh Mimi!!! I wanna know how you like it - that's exactly what I want to do...

[mimitabby]

i'll let you all know. one of the wonderful parts of this is I get a new room because the old waterheater blocks it from being usable. the new one is much smaller and mounted on the outside of the house!

[tinyhouse]

I just did research on this very issue. I too wanted to choose an environmentally friendly water heater and felt it would be worth the extra expense to do so. However, I read a great deal about on-demand heaters and ended up going with a (gas) tank instead. Here's why:

They end up wasting MORE water because it takes awhile for the water to come out of the faucet hot. I'm not interested in wasting water. I also found out that you can't run as hot of a shower and occasionally after a ride in the rain I have a chill I can't shake so I like a nice hot shower.

[mimitabby]

yes, miss tinyhouse (please explain your name please!) i think there will be a bit more waste of water. But I just got done with my very first insulation job!! (cough cough) I insulated the wall where the pipes are that feed into the heater and back out. Next I will insulate the pipes themselves. All we had was exterior wall and studs, no wonder it's cold.

I also insulated underneath my bathtub. i can't wait to see how much of a difference that might make. that tub has always been cold!
now soon as i quit itching and coughing, I'll be a happier camper. (I wore a kerchief over my face and safety glasses.)

[Trek420]

I like this idea and we will be sure to ask about it!

I like it too. I have something similar on the (gas) heater. Thermostat is downstairs but heater is upstairs and I forget to turn it down at night. I don't want to trundle downstairs but there's a little switch.

Did not think I could have that on the water heater. Smart guy that Queen Dad

Mimi, tell us all about how the install goes

[Mr. Bloom]

We have two water heaters. The original gas water heater installation. We subsequently added an electric one. The water system draws from the electric one first, which then draws from the gas one. Theoretically, we can never run out of hot water since the gas reheats much quicker. In reality, we don't ever run out of hot, but after we've gone through 100 gallons, it's comfortably warm, but not hot.

It used to be we couldn't fill our jacuzzi with hot water...now we have plenty to do that even when SilverDaughter is taking one of her typical 30 minute showers...and the high efficiency washer is running

We get through four morning showers comfortably now.

We considered an ondemand heater prior to doing this because our water heaters are at one end of the house and the pipe run upstairs and too the other end of the house (about 100+ ft)...meaning we had to run water for nearly five minutes to get hot. But, even pondering a $300 monthly water bill (mostly sewer) it wasn't cost effective for us to install on demand. They're very good for low use applications, but not for normal living...