Electric Water Heaters

radar750

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
62
I have a 50 gal electric water heater in a condo up north in ski country. I shut it down and drain<br />it when we are not there. It is expensive and slow to fill and reheat it when we go up. Does anyone know about those wall mounted instant on demand water heaters, they only heat when there is a call for hot water, there is no water storage and the theroy is water goes in and instantly gets hot. I wonder if that would be a cheaper way to get HW.
 

Kenneth Brown

Captain
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
3,481
Re: Electric Water Heaters

I've been wondering the same thing. I would like to get one for our camphouse.
 

JasonJ

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 20, 2001
Messages
4,163
Re: Electric Water Heaters

I've seen a few in action, they work fairly well, but they were in new construction, no one was willing to discuss efficiency because they had no length of time on the devices.
 

SlowlySinking

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
897
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Hi, the ones I've seen work fine, and compared to keeping 50 gallons of water hot with expensive electricity and the constant losses due to the in/out copper lines acting like a heat sink you have nothing to lose. Plus when you drain the heater you throw away 50 gallons of hot water. :)
 

Scoop

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
1,158
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Never had one, but saw on on This Old House. On a cabin, I wonder how well it drains for winter. We thought about putting on in my friends cabin. I understand that they are exoensive compared to a regular water heater, but the efficiency saves you money in the long run. On this old house they mentioned if you wan to run more than one shower, you would also need a regular hot water heater to preheat the water slightly, but that a high efficiency model set on the minimal heat still is more efficient than keeping 50 gallons heated hot enough all the time.
 

GodsBeast

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Messages
502
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Scoop, I had also heard that they don't have a lot of capacity. Seems like a pain to have to deal with both the water heater and the on demand wall heater. Might be a good deal in a Camp setting, if every one does not bath real close together. <br /><br />If you have both, you still have to deal with Draining the Hot Water heater, and refilling. <br /><br />Radar, Anyway to increase the water supply to the Heater you have? Also how about an Insulated Boot Cover for you HOT Water Heater? I used to have an Electric HW Heater, and I just turned the power on to it 30 minutes every other day, and it held 50 gallons of water hot enough that way on a timer. <br /><br />Radar,<br />How often do you go up there, anyway to leave it on with this timer and boot set up! Or if only once or twice a year, you might just try to increase the water supply to it, and light it as soon as you get there.
 

aspeck

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
18,588
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Had 3 of them. They worked great - but you have to have one for each room - bathroom, kitchen, etc. Notice I said HAD. Problem I had with them is they kept leaking. Went through 6 before I learned that in the model I had you could not keep them under pressure, you had to have the water valve BEFORE the unit, which meant they couldn't be hidden under the vanity or in the drop ceiling. Before leaking they produced lots of hot water on demand, but they do use a lot of electricity when they are running - also had to give each of them their own curcuit becuase they wanted to keep popping breakers.<br /><br />Hope that helps.
 

GodsBeast

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Messages
502
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Aspeck, seems like more trouble, than the situation that Radar is having with just the H.W. Heater.
 

FSHKPR

Ensign
Joined
Apr 6, 2003
Messages
921
Re: Electric Water Heaters

we had a couple and they work fairly well. as long as you dont like real long and real hot showers. and yes you do need one for every room. actually we had one on bathroom sink, one for shower and one for kitchen sink. i think they are mainly intended for use in sinks. the kind we had was a smaller model though so maybe the bigger models would heat a shower better. with mine the shower was always luke warm.
 

radar750

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
62
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Hey Guys, Thanks for the input. Scoop, thats where I saw it also on This Old House but I just caught the end of it. I will start looking around to see what I can find out and will let anyone interested know.<br />I dont really have a problem, I just think there is a better way to heat the water. We try to go up every outher weekend it is about a 2.5 hr ride,it is just north of North Conway. The reason I drain it and then only when we get into freezing weather is sometimes they lose power for long perieods of time and I am afraid it might freeze,it has happened to others in the same area.
 

GodsBeast

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Messages
502
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Radar, It shouldn't freeze with an Insulated Boot on it. You should really check it out, you'll be amazed at how long it would hold enough heat in, if the power was to go off for even a week. <br /><br />If your going every other weekend, you shouldn't have to drain and refill every time. I really think the boot might be a better and cheaper solution.
 

radar750

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
62
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Mellow, that is an excellent site and just may be what I am looking for.<br />Gods, this boot you are talking about, is it just an insulating wrap around the tank? if so it already has a white insulation blanket around it about 1" thick. Thanks all
 

kenimpzoom

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2002
Messages
4,807
Re: Electric Water Heaters

In thailand (an most other areas in Asia/Europe)they have individual water heaters in each shower. The smaller ones were about 1 foot tall by 8 inches wide. They only gave luke warm, but better than cold. Cost about 50-100 bucks, ran on 220V. Too bad you cant import those.<br /><br />Ken
 

GodsBeast

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Messages
502
Re: Electric Water Heaters

Yes Radar, that is it, a Blanket, they do make thicker ones, but even one 1" thick should protect from freezing for a long time. It should have a top coating of Insulation also, for it to be what has been called a boot. Otherwise the blanket works good, but you loose more heat out of the top. The top insulation pad should be put on before the Blanket, which wraps around the tops edges!
 
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