Electric Tankless Water Heaters – are they energy efficient?
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at
6:19 am
I was told that the electric variety of tankless water heaters suck up a lot more juice than their propane/nat gas counterparts. The reason I am considering electric is that I don't want an extensive installation - I just want to replace my old electric tank heater with a wall-mounted tankless one. Is it worth it?
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Tagged with: counterparts • electric tank • electric variety • nat gas • propane • tank heater • tankless water heaters
Filed under: Electric Water Heater
Consider that an electric on demand heater will only draw current when in use. A regular water heater has to heat the water and then maintain that temperature. Yes, it’s more efficient. The drawbacks to a tankless heater would be that you may not get as much hot water as fast as you want it. I have been looking into these lately myself. I have decided to go with gas because I want to be "off-grid" , however I suggest that you carefully consider your requirements for an electric heater and make sure that you get one that is powerful enough to fulfill your needs. I hate it when the shower won’t get quite as hot as I like it. You must consider your climate and your water source. Some of these heaters will only heat water 50 degrees. That means that if your water is 32, after heating will only be 82. Not hot enough for a hot bath. I would get one if I were you, but I would get a good one.
Don’t get some cheap crap.
I hope it is, I am planning the same thing. They only use electricity on demand instead of keeping water hot all the time.
Something else you might want to look in to. In the area where I live, I have to have a licensed plumber come in and plug in the new one. If I had to do any real plumbing, I would understand this, but not just to take out the old one & plug in a new one. Have to have a city permit too. Makes mine a lot less cost effective.
Yes and no. See, if your plumbing isn’t insulated, then you’re screwed. The heating cost alone in wintertime will drive you to drink for the cold water coming into the house. A gas one heats twice as quickly though. In summer time, you don’t have a gas bill with the electric ones.
I have installed several of both.
The gas ones work better for those folks who might not have enough electrical service to power the electric unit.
The electric unit is much easier to install and takes up less room and works just as good. It however takes a large amount of electricity, as much as 120 amps at 220 volts. Be very sure that you have a large enough electrical service to handle this very large load.
The only draw back on both units is, you need to be sure to get one big enough for your needs.
These are units that you will need help installing, don’t guess on the install. There is a big potential of property damage and injury or death to humans.
Overall, all things considered, I would vote for the electric unit and would have to probably vote for Bosch.