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Has anyone had experience with the Bosch Aquastar or similar style tankless water heaters for home use? I'll be replacing my 30 gallon natural gas fired sometime this summer and am trying to figure out what to replace it with. There are six people in the house and typically no more than two tasks (ex. dishwasher and shower or washing machine and shower) demanding hot water are done at the same time.
When I built my shop, I researched the subject and was really quite split on what to do. In a situation that I was in, it could have been quite a savings on going this route, however the electrical demands were quite high. The propane type demanded to much area and breathing openings were quite high and the type of building I was building was sealed up quite well so that elimated the gas type. The final kicker was a few web sites where they mentioned some problems with leakage after a while.
In a situation that you are in, with six people I would go with the standard type tank water heater, your savings would not be justified with this kind of hot water usage.
I have a propane tankless water heater in my cabin . I don't know the brand ,but is is a very small one . Best thing I ever installed ! It has a D battery for the ignition so it never matters if I lose power . Talk with a good solar supplier and they can advise you on the right size to buy . I like it so much ,I am replacing the old propane water heater in my house with a tankless one as soon as I can .
Big Al
I've never heard of these. Where do you purchase these tankless water heaters?
Most of the box stores should have them, if not they will be able to order them. Also do a online search and you will be able to get a lot of hits.
My brother just installed a Takagi Tankless. He loves it. It has really cut down on his gas bill. There is no storage or pilot light. Therefor it uses zero energy unless the hotwater is on.
Tankless has the advantage where you would otherwise have considerable standby losses. lf you don't use hot water very often, maintaining the water at temp with a tank type can waste a lot of energy. If you use hot water fairly frequently it is harder to justify the extra expense of the tankless.
A pretty good compromise solution is to get an electronic ignition (no standing pilot) tank type heater in gas or an electric tank type heater and lavish some insulation on it to reduce the standby losses. Electrics are really easy to superinsulate but you can improve a gas unit significantly too.
A point of interest:
It is really hard to find a more economical insulated storage tank than a hot water heater. They are cheaper to buy than an insulated tank with no heating capability, thermostat, or safety devices. My hydronic system needs a hot water storage tank and it was several hundred dollars cheaper to buy a hot water heater and just not hook up the elements.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
A tankless also is a good match to use after a domestic hot water loop in an outdoor wood burning furnace, or any other method of preheating the water I suppose.
Most of the tankless only turn on their heating elements if needed, so my outdoor wood burning furnace ( owbf ) could heat the water and the tankless water heater might not need to heat the water at all, or at least not as much.