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Tankless Water Heaters – Color Yours Green!

Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 7:16 am  
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Going Green is getting to be quite a popular thing to do these days.  Many people are purchasing tankless water heaters with the idea that they are purchasing a “green plumbing product”.  But just how Green are they?

Well, are they greener than a standard tank type water heater?  They are not more efficient at heating water than electric storage water heaters or gas water heaters.  However, they do not have a storage tank and therefore do not suffer the standby losses that a tank type heater has.

Water Heater Standby Losses

Standby losses result from heat energy leaking out of the tank of hot water.  Even if you don’t use any hot water, the heat keeps leaking out, and eventually the water temperature inside the heater drops to below the thermostat set point and the heater comes on heating the water back up to full temperature and the process continues in an endless cycle.

With a well insulated tank the standby losses aren’t particularly large. You will save some energy but not a lot with a tankless water heater compared to a tank type water heater.

Endless Hot Water VS Human Behavior

Human behavior is probably a more significant contributor to going green.  For instance, since you never run out of hot water with a tankless water heater, you may end up taking longer showers.  It doesn’t take much additional shower time to completely obliterate any savings due to reduced standby losses.

It takes tankless water heaters longer to get hot water to the fixtures than it does a storage type water heater, so more people will turn on the hot water and do something else before coming back to take the shower. By that time hot water is running down the drain; a waste of both water and energy.

Point of use water heaters

Just the fact that the tankless water heaters take longer to deliver hot water to the fixtures means that more water will be wasted with tankless units.  That is hardly going green. 

Point of use tankless water heaters do not suffer this water conservation problem.  If the plumbing layout is such that the water heater is very close to the fixtures then you have a Green plumbing system… saving water and energy both at once.  If you are contemplating building a new home you should consider using a Green plumbing layout.

Both water and energy will continue to get more expensive and by planning ahead you could end up saving thousands of dollars over the life of your home.

Water Heater Pumps

If you don’t have a Green plumbing layout then you might want to consider using a water heater pump to speed up your hot water and eliminate running the cooled off hot water left over in your pipes from the last hot water use down the drain.

You gain the convenience of faster hot water and you save a lot of water. 

Hot water recirculation pumps

One class of pumps is the old standard circulating pumps, often referred to as “recirc pumps”.  They slowly circulate hot water through the hot water piping system to keep hot water in the pipes at all times.  You have “instant hot water” whenever you want it.

These pumps can be placed on timers so they don’t run during periods when no hot water is expected to be needed… like late at night.

They are extremely wasteful of energy, but save plenty of water.

Laing Autocirc, Watts Premier, and Grundfos

Laing, Watts, RedyTemp, and Grundfos all manufacture hot water pumps that are basically a modified version of the old standard recirc pumps.  Instead of keeping the piping full of hot water these pumps keep the pipes full of lukewarm water and generally utilize the cold water pipes as a return line.

They don’t waste as much energy as the older systems, but they still waste significant amounts of energy, and many users complain that the cold water is no longer cold…it’s lukewarm and they don’t like that.

These systems generally will not work with tankless water heaters because they don’t pump enough water to turn on the water heater.  Many tankless water heaters are not compatible with circulating system and will void the warranty when one is used.

Metlund, Chilipepper – Tankless Water Heater Pumps

There are a class of pumps known as “hot water demand pumps” that are compatible with tankless water heaters and standard storage water heaters as well.  Demand pumps are only activa

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Heat water instantly with instant water heaters!

Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 5:25 am  
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One surely gets frustrated, if in between taking a shower hot water runs out. Those huge energy  bills are a big time headache. Instant water heaters act as a big relief in this situation. An instant tank-less water heater has several advantages when compared to a conventional water heater.

The elementary thought is that a water heater is designed to heat water for several purposes. Earlier people used to heat water manually using fire, this trend gradually developed and low-priced immersion heaters were introduced to help in water heating purposes in homes.

With advancement in technology and science, storage tank water heaters were manufactured that went through a significant changing process and from large tanks to smaller and more versatile tanks with varied fuel usage capacity from electricity to natural gas, propane gas and LPG gas.

Though, storage tank water heaters are still commonly in use because of their features, lot of energy is spent on heating water in it. It provides hot water when a user needs it by storing the pre heated water in the tank by preserving the temperature until it is used. An instant water heater allows one to save money because it heats the water instantly when one wants it unlike the storage water heaters  that store the pre-heated water.  One can be assured that hot water will be available the instant he/she get into the shower without having the fear of getting a gush of cold water, at first. This is the asset of an instant water heater.

An instant water heater is easy to install and cost efficient too. One can take the advantage of installing the device at his/her home and forget the trauma of having to wait for the shower until the water get heated up.

By using portable and cheap (price wise) instant water heaters one can eventually save a lot on electricity bills. These are best suited not only for homes but also for hostels, restaurants, hospitals and hotels as well, since these are the places that require a unwavering flow of hot water throughout the day and night.

The greatest advantage of an instant water heater is that it keeps a constant heat supply and one need not worry about the fluctuation in the temperature because it doesn’t affects the heating process inside the boiler. This is very highly suggested for large families that use a lot of water. One can use the instant water heater to wash clothes, dishes and also for those who takes unmeasurable shower after shower.

One should make the right choice by choosing an appropriate instant water heaters for one’s practical needs.

One can get instant heaters from same stores that sell other types of water heaters or can buy it online with many online shopping marts flooded all over the internet. As their popularity has grown recently, one will not have any problems finding a decent instant water heater suiting his/her specific needs and requirements. One can save quite a lot by buying a water heater/s online.


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