Please correct my thinking here.
I'm in the market for a water heater. Mine is getting old at almost 25 years.
So I've priced a Richmond, appropriately sized for a four person household, 2200 sq ft single story ranch.
http://www.menards.com/main/water-h...2-year-tall-water-heater/p-1517738-c-8690.htm
800 dollars.
While researching water heaters I was reading an argument about how much hot water is wasted over the course of a year while washing hands and dishes etc while waiting for the hot water to fill the lines between the tank and the faucet. Then the water that is in the pipe run just dissipates its heat until the next time the tap is opened.
So I looked up tankless heaters for "point of use". Three appropriately rated units, one under the bathroom in the floor joists, one under the kitchen sink, and a third wall mounted above the washing machine.
Re-plumbing gas lines throughout the house is much more difficult than running wires so I looked into electric models. Turns out they're not terribly expensive, even for a four gallon per minute continuous flow rate.
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...a=X&ei=FegeUZPaJ6mN0QG4_4HIBQ&ved=0CFIQ8wIwAA
http://www.rheem.com/products/tankless_water_heaters/tankless_electric
To purchase and install three of these, appropriately sized, for point-of-use in the single bathroom, kitchen, and downstairs laundry, the total initial cost is actually a bit less than the single 50 gal Richmond.
Understanding that electric water heat is more expensive than gas, wouldn't these three point-of-use units still be less expensive to operate given the fact that no energy is lost in long runs of pipe, no water is wasted while waiting for the hot water, and there is no need to maintain 50 gals of water at heat on a constant basis?
I'm in the market for a water heater. Mine is getting old at almost 25 years.
So I've priced a Richmond, appropriately sized for a four person household, 2200 sq ft single story ranch.
http://www.menards.com/main/water-h...2-year-tall-water-heater/p-1517738-c-8690.htm
800 dollars.
While researching water heaters I was reading an argument about how much hot water is wasted over the course of a year while washing hands and dishes etc while waiting for the hot water to fill the lines between the tank and the faucet. Then the water that is in the pipe run just dissipates its heat until the next time the tap is opened.
So I looked up tankless heaters for "point of use". Three appropriately rated units, one under the bathroom in the floor joists, one under the kitchen sink, and a third wall mounted above the washing machine.
Re-plumbing gas lines throughout the house is much more difficult than running wires so I looked into electric models. Turns out they're not terribly expensive, even for a four gallon per minute continuous flow rate.
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...a=X&ei=FegeUZPaJ6mN0QG4_4HIBQ&ved=0CFIQ8wIwAA
http://www.rheem.com/products/tankless_water_heaters/tankless_electric
To purchase and install three of these, appropriately sized, for point-of-use in the single bathroom, kitchen, and downstairs laundry, the total initial cost is actually a bit less than the single 50 gal Richmond.
Understanding that electric water heat is more expensive than gas, wouldn't these three point-of-use units still be less expensive to operate given the fact that no energy is lost in long runs of pipe, no water is wasted while waiting for the hot water, and there is no need to maintain 50 gals of water at heat on a constant basis?
