Tankless Hot Water System - cost savings?
Question:I am considering changing out our 10 year old electric hot water heater with an electric tankless system... I don't have access to gas/or lp.
The benefits I see are that you only heat the water when you need it, and it doesn't sit in the tank waiting...
The thing I have trouble wrapping my head around is going from tank electric to tankless electric - it seems like a wash - i.e still using electricity.
Is there a significant savings in going to tankless... even if I select an electric tankless system.
Answers:
it will pay for itself. hot water on demand, wrap your head around not heating water when you dont need it.
To electrically heat water on demand.must be a hell of a Kilowatt usage, a decent shower is 3kw but the actual output of hot water is minimal...it takes 10 seconds to fill a cup. Imagine filling the bath or even the wash-up bowl?
This needs looking into, because maybe tankless electric systems are more expensive to run...maybe they are built for those situations where having a tank is not possible?
Forget it !
forget where i was reading up on these.. i almost bought a gas unit.. but the tables said i needed 2 of the one i wanted or 1 of the more $$ i did read that there is a much more savings on the gas units compared to the electric.. gas heats quicker than electric. it did say expect about 20 years out of a tankless system. also there is a tax credit for 07 (the last year) its a dollar for dollar tax credit) up to 300$
The wattage of your current heater is no higher than 4,500. A tankeless electric can be as high as 30,000. Plan on a wiring and breaker upgrade. If your breaker box cannot handle the increase, plan on a service upgrade. You could spend over $1,000 for a new box even before you purchase the heater and have it installed.
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