Dec 1

Written by: host
12/1/2011 11:39 AM 

A Tankless job for the New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s some good info about tankless hot water heaters.

Natural Home Magazine: To understand how tankless water heaters operate—and why they’re more efficient than standard water heaters—let’s look first at storage water heaters, common in most American homes. A storage water heater consists of a 40- to 80-gallon glass tank wrapped in insulation and encased in steel. Cold water enters the tank and is heated by a gas burner or electric heating elements that start every time the water temperature inside the tank drops below a predetermined setting, ideally around 120°F.

Storage water heaters work well, although they may not provide enough hot water when demand is high. They also lose a lot of energy maintaining a constant temperature between active periods—what’s referred to as “standby” losses, which typically account for about 20 percent of the energy they consume.

One key advantage of a tankless model over a storage water heater is that by using a device known as a heat exchanger, it heats on demand rather than maintaining a 24-hour-per-day hot-water reservoir.

U.S. Department of Energy: Demand (tankless or instantaneous) water heaters provide hot water only as it is needed. They don’t produce the standby energy losses associated with storage water heaters, which can save you money.

Energy Star: By heating water only when you need it, ENERGY STAR qualified tankless water heaters save the typical family more than $100 per year on gas bills compared to a standard storage model…cut water heating expenses by 30%, while also providing continuous hot water delivery