Tankless Water Heater Information

1. What are Tankless Water Heaters?
2. How do Tankless Water Heaters Work?
3. Advantages of Tankless Water Heaters.
4. Installing the Right Tankless Water Heater.
5. Tankless Water Heater Manufacturers?

What are Tankless Water Heaters?

Tankless water heaters are used in place of or in addition to conventional tank water heaters.  You may hear tankless water heaters referred to as on demand heaters, instant and instantaneous water heaters, inline, flash or continuous. Except for what goes through the heat exchanger coil,  these devices do not retain water like a tank water heater. These heaters can either be used at a specific location such as a shower, or kitchen or a larger model can provide all of the hot water requirements for an entire home.  If your tankless water heater is sized correctly you should never run out of hot water.

How do Tankless Water Heaters Work?

You must understand how a standard tank water heater works before you can fully understand a tankless system. A standard system has a tank which stores water and keeps that water heated to your desired temperature. In order to maintain the waters temperature a standard tank heater has to continually heat the water. Standby heat loss is the energy loss by the tank system having to heat the water even when it is not being used. Tankless water heaters are also known as "on demand" systems because they only heat water when it is needed. This is how tankless systems avoid standby energy loss. Inside the tankless system is a device called a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger takes heat created by electric coils or a gas burner and transfers it to water as it cycles through the system. As soon as water enters the system the heat exchanger is activated heating the cold water to the set temperature of the system.

Advantages of Tankless Water Heaters

• Tankless Water Heaters Provide Long Term Energy Savings: When you initially install your tankless water heater you will pay more, but over time you should see savings associated with energy use and ongoing maintenance.  As the name indicates tankless water heaters do not have a water storage unit. A standard tank continually uses energy to heat that water it contains.  This heating and the loss of heat through the containers walls results in loss of energy.  A tankless water heater may even provide savings in large homes or buildings which use large amounts of water.  But if your going to being using a tankless system in your home, the savings will be quite large.  You could potentially save up to 20% on your energy bill.
• Never Run out of Hot Water: Because a tankless water heater heats the water as it passess through the system you will never run out of hot water.  Even though the rate at which the water moves through the system determines how much hot water can be created at any give moment it can be created forever.  
• Tankless Water Heaters Are Much Smaller Than Standard Tanks: You can put a tankless water heater anywhere.  They can be placed in the garage, basement or mounted on an internal wall. The amount of space needed to heat water is significantly reduced. Standard tank water heaters take up more space than even the largest tankless systems.  Now image being to recoup the space used by your current tank system.  Some of these systems can take up areas larger than most closets.  Space in your home has a cost per square foot and being able to put that space to use is one of the factors rarely considered when purchasing a tankless water heater.
• Reduced risk of water damage: If you've ever had a hot water tank break open on you then you are aware of the damage these units can cause.  Because tankless systems have no storage units, this significantly reduces the risk of water damage. You need to understand that leaks can still occur from pipes or other fittings.  If any of these fittings or pipes fail due to improper installation, you will see some water damage.
• Tankless Heaters Last Longer than Standard Tanks:  Tankless water heaters last 15-20 years.  A standard tank will last between 10-12 years. Tankless water heaters last 10 years longer than their tank counterparts.  This provides you with nice maintenance savings over the life of the unit.

Installing the Right Tankless Water Heater

1. Point of Use vs Whole-house Heaters

2. Choosing the proper fuel type

3. Sizing your Tankles Water

Point of Use vs Whole-house Heaters

When looking to install a tankless water heaters you need to consider which type of job you need the system to perform.  Do you need a unit to support a single appliance, such as a shower or a kitchen sink or do you need something that will provide hot water to the entire home. If your looking for a unit to heat just one or two outlets you'll be looking for a point of use (POU) system. Because these systems are small they can fit anywhere, under a sink or in other small areas such as a closet. Being able to install these units close to the source enables you to avoid energy loss caused by longer runs.   Longer runs create a lag time.  Lag time is the time it takes for the hot water to reach you.  Normally the larger the home, the longer the lag time.  In really large homes or small businesses this could be a couple of minutes.  With these type of long runs you will decrease your heating bill but your water consumption will increase.  A properly installed tankless water heater will mitigate this issue.   If your looking to provide hot water for your entire home you'll be looking for a whole house system.  These systems can support more than one or two outlets and they are much more powerful than their (POU) counterparts. 

Choosing the proper fuel type

Tankless water heaters can support many different types of fuel.  The three primary tankless water heater fuel types are natural gas, propane and electric. Normally you will see POU heaters using electricity and the whole house systems using propane or gas.  But as gas prices continue to rise electrical units are becoming more popular.  If your going to choose an electrical tankless water heater you need to make sure you consider that voltage requirements (110V, 120V, 208V, 220V, 240V, or 277V), the amperage draw of the unit and the circuts needed to run the unit.  Gas heaters have other considerations.  You will need to determine what type of gas unit to get (propane or natural gas), you will need to determine if the size of your current line can support tankless heater and lastly you need to identify how you will vent the unit. Choosing the proper tankless water heater depends on additional factors which will be discussed in the next section. 

Sizing your Tankless Water

When sizing your tankless system you will need to know two pieces of information.  The first  is what are your water useage requirements (flow rates) and the second part is what is the temperature rise needed to get to your desired water temperature. 

Using the chart above as a guide you need to determine your average water requirements.  For most households 3 gpm can be used as an average.  This would be an individual taking a shower and someone else in the house using the sink.  In 1992 the government set the maximum flow limit for new appliance at 2.2 gpm.  Using low flow water heads and other devices will further lower the gallons per minute used.  To get the flow rate needed add up fixtures needed at any one time.  For instance if you need to use a shower and the kitchen sink at one time and the shower is post 1992 you will use 2.2 gpm + 1.5 gpm =  3.7.  Because the vast majority of the time you will be mixing cold water when taking a shower or using the sink I tend to use 75% of this number in my final equation which equals approximately 2.8 gpm. 

Now we have to understand how much we need to raise the temperature level of our water to get the desired temperature.   If your in a warmer climate your ground water temperature will be around 70-75 degrees.  If your in a colder northern climate you will find your winter ground temperatures are much colder.  A good rule of thumb is to take the average annual temperature for your area.  Where I live that temperature is approximately 55 degrees.  Most of us take a shower in the temperature range of 104-110 degrees.   So in my area I would need a tankless water heater to be able to raise the temperature of the ground water 49-55 degrees. 

Now that we have our flow rates and the rise in water temperature we should have enough information to complete our research and determine which tankless water heater would be best for us.  Based on our example above we would require a system that would be able to provide us with 2.8 gpm while raising the temperature of the water going into the system approximately 55 degrees. Please keep in mind that while a tankless water heater will never stop making hot water the more appliances or fixtures you have on at the same time will impact the amount of water available for each appliance.  To the right you will see a chart which provides a charting of available Stiebel electric tankless water heaters and their flow rates vs temperature rises.  This cart will tell you what temperature rise you can expect from the system based on your gpm requirements.

If you have a large family and or use large amounts of hot water you may want to consider using propane or natural gas tankless heaters.  Normally these units are move powerful than their electric counterparts.  If you want to go with an electric you always have the option of  installing two units in parrellel. 

Tankless Water Heater Manufacturers.

	Bosch Tankless Water Heaters Bosch started as a small company in Germany in 1886 when Robert Bosch, a German engineer, opened his “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Engineering.” In 1906, Robert Bosch brought his business to the United States. One hundred years later, Bosch U.S. has evolved into an innovative and diverse company. In the U.S. many households today own Bosch products from the consumer goods and building technology sector, which includes Bosch’s home appliances, power tools, security systems, and water heating divisions
	Bradford White Electric Water Heaters A stainless steel French press allows you to enjoy countless cups of refined coffee over time. For you to enjoy that rich taste of coffee, there are some tips that you need to adopt. With these tips at hand, you will always be assured of a great cup of coffee with a great aroma and a taste that leaves your taste buds craving for more.
	Chronomite Tankless Water Heaters Since 1966, Chronomite Laboratories Inc. has been the innovative leader in providing solutions for commercial and industrial tankless plumbing applications. Chronomite Laboratories provides environmentally safe solutions for industrial and commercial tankless plumbing applications. Chronomite Laboratories patented the first microprocessor controlled tankless water heater providing unlimited hot water simultaneously to multiple locations with one heater.
	Eemax Tankless Water Heaters Eemax tankless water heaters are very compact and light and yet they are also extremely efficient electric water heating systems. Eemax electric tankless water heaters are a modern and cost effective alternative to traditional hot water heaters (when sized correctly) and they are relatively easily to install. The Eemax line includes Single Point, Flow Controlled, Thermostatic, Series Two, Series Three, Three Phase Tankless Water Heaters and Mini-Tank Electric Water Heaters.
	Stiebel Eltron Tankless Water Heaters Stiebel Eltron was founded in 1924 by Dr. Theodor Stiebel in Berlin, Germany. Initially the company concentrated on the manufacture of electric water heaters for the German market. In the decades that followed, Stiebel Eltron branched out into additional products and the additional markets grew steadily. One of these additional markets was that of America. Stielbel Eltron entered business in the American market in 1980. Today, Stiebel Eltron is the largest manufacturer of water heaters in Germany and the company is known for its high quality, well engineered products.
	Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Rheem is a leading North American producer of water heaters, central warm air furnaces and air conditioners, and swimming pool heaters and commercial boilers. The company's products are used for residential and commercial applications and operate on a variety of fuels. Rheem and Ruud water heating includes water heaters, tankless water heaters, residential water heaters, commercial water heaters, solar water heaters, industrial water heaters and water heater accessories. Innovative Rheem tankless water heaters have changed the way we heat water.