tankless hot water heater

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hurleyjd

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Any one using one of the tankless water heaters. Prefer electric. Pros and cons please and what brand if any.
 
hurleyjd":17byay9p said:
Any one using one of the tankless water heaters. Prefer electric. Pros and cons please and what brand if any.
I priced one a few years ago . The units are reasonable. Its the wire requirement that turned me off iirc you have to have 4awg wire
 
Put a propane one in the house we built almost 4 years ago. So far no problems. Not sure of the brand right now.
 
Most all dairies have gone to tankless when they have to replace water heaters. All have been propane. There is an unlimited supply of hot water where they couldn't get that with the old tank style. Had a friend in Canada, above Calgary, who had one and loved it. Know another guy in Vt that hates his because he said that by the time he gets the hot water he has turned off the spigot, like when he is shaving, running the blade under the water, repeat. I don't know how far away his tankless is from the bathroom. There is one company that boasts that they run the "cold water" around through a loop, so that it is never comes out of the faucet cold. I do know that the dairies often use Rinnai (sp?). There is one that is supposed to be "water activated" as in the movement of the water kicks it on so doesn't need an electric "starter" so to speak. I have been told that the electric ones are not as efficient as the propane type.
There are some websites to look them up on. Lowes Lumber used to carry one or two brands here.
 
I'm using propane for the house and almost went electric for the catering kitchen back when. We figured the cost of electric and saw quickly that propane was much less expensive to operate. Takagi for the house but I don't know the other brand at the moment. One thing to make sure of is there are clean outs installed. Much longer life span if you'll clean the thing once a year. Cleaning Video
 
I have had a Bosch outdoor type in my attic for about 10 or 12 years. Its natural gas and has been no problem. The only thing I have done to it is clean the screen and run water through the pop valve ever so often. I love it. When I bought it the electric ones were not very good. They couldn't generate enough heat quickly. Not sure if they have improved since then.
 
hurleyjd":19y7ki4i said:
Propane is not an option was more interested in the electric.

dvyew.jpg
 
the best hot water heater I have seen on a dairy was somewhere up in Pennsylvania years ago. The guy had a small boiler...he had it valved so that he could run hot water from the boiler through the plate cooler on the water side, during the wash cycle....he could wash all day at 145 degrees.
 
Newer gas tankless units have a circulating pump/tank that are a lot better and more efficient. I believe it will give 9 gals of hot water/min.
 
We got a small electric Bosch one off Amazon for $135. It takes 30 amps and will scald your skin. We use it for a small apartment in barn and it is under sink and close to shower. It is pretty amazing how hot it gets the water.
 
pdfangus":1ipnv1sb said:
the best hot water heater I have seen on a dairy was somewhere up in Pennsylvania years ago. The guy had a small boiler...he had it valved so that he could run hot water from the boiler through the plate cooler on the water side, during the wash cycle....he could wash all day at 145 degrees.
Good idea! But is that legal to wash at such a low temperature there?
 
back in those days....late nineties....I was a Diversey territory manager.....we struggled mightily with having enough hot water to keep systems clean....we had all the heaters cranked up as high as they would go but the wash water cooled off so quickly it was problematic....

we were actually ecstatic that we had a system that could maintain 145...and that system stayed clean....
 
pdfangus":2g6ly2jw said:
back in those days....late nineties....I was a Diversey territory manager.....we struggled mightily with having enough hot water to keep systems clean....we had all the heaters cranked up as high as they would go but the wash water cooled off so quickly it was problematic....

we were actually ecstatic that we had a system that could maintain 145...and that system stayed clean....
for dairys in Michigan you will get fined if it's under 160
 
ez14.":29xrboiw said:
pdfangus":29xrboiw said:
back in those days....late nineties....I was a Diversey territory manager.....we struggled mightily with having enough hot water to keep systems clean....we had all the heaters cranked up as high as they would go but the wash water cooled off so quickly it was problematic....

we were actually ecstatic that we had a system that could maintain 145...and that system stayed clean....
for dairys in Michigan you will get fined if it's under 160

I would be interested to know how producers keep the wash water that hot especially in a cold climate.

most good dairy cleaners will work very well at 145.....many will struggle when the dump temp sinks below 110.
in food plants and commercial facilities like receiving stations steam can be added to the wash water to keep it hot but in those days very few dairy farms had steam.
 
pdfangus":39y5w0oe said:
ez14.":39y5w0oe said:
pdfangus":39y5w0oe said:
back in those days....late nineties....I was a Diversey territory manager.....we struggled mightily with having enough hot water to keep systems clean....we had all the heaters cranked up as high as they would go but the wash water cooled off so quickly it was problematic....

we were actually ecstatic that we had a system that could maintain 145...and that system stayed clean....
for dairys in Michigan you will get fined if it's under 160

I would be interested to know how producers keep the wash water that hot especially in a cold climate.

most good dairy cleaners will work very well at 145.....many will struggle when the dump temp sinks below 110.
in food plants and commercial facilities like receiving stations steam can be added to the wash water to keep it hot but in those days very few dairy farms had steam.
We got a hot water heater that heats the water to 180 degrees and have it very close to the wash system which is in a heated part of the barn (not real warm but always above freezing) I don't know how other farms do it
 

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