sundance-communications.com Forums Member Forums Phone Booth electric tankless water heater

Has anyone installed one of those yet?i am thinking of buying one

We've had one at our office for about 7 years now,..... but it's only used for washing hands ect.
Seems to work OK.

I've provided the wiring for several of them. I'm still not convinced that they are worth the effort. Part of the problem is that they require a lot of electricity to operate, I mean a LOT. The ones that I wired required 120 amps (three 40 amp circuits) to operate. Granted, they only use this power while the water is flowing, many homes don't have the available ampacity to support these things. Even a home with a 200 amp service would be squeezed pretty hard with that kind of added load. On the last one that we did, the service had to be increased to 400 amps. After all of that expense, I'm not sure that the homeowner will ever recoup their investment.

I have a gas (natural) tank less water, installed it in 2001, no problems with it.

Eemax Electric tankless is rated for 3 GPM continuous and is rated for 80 amps at 240V single phase.

For large capacity over 10 GPM, I have seen the plumbers, around here, install the natural gas tankless in restaurants and commercial establishments.

The people that have the tankless love them. It's a big up front expense, but the energy savings can be well worth the initial investment.

Rcaman

Another problem besides the amps needed is the incoming water temperature. If your incoming water is cold then an electric on demand heater doesn't work well. Here in Maine if you want enough hot water for a shower you need a gas unit.

I am torn and thinking of still doing it I would get more room and not paying to keep 60 gallons of water hot all the time I have looked at some from Home Depot and they require 240v/40 amp which is what my hot water tank is wired to right now.
I will be doing it this winter and I will post results
thanks for your inputs.

You might want to check your existing wiring. The breaker for a 60 gallon tank should be 30, not 40.

That being said, if the new system requires 40 amp, your wiring should be 8 gauge, not 10.

Best to get a qualified electrician to check it out.

Very true. There isn't a residential tank-type electric water heater that requires more than a 30 amp circuit, regardless of the gallons. They all use 4,500 or 5,500 watt elements, but only one is ever used at a time, which equates to about 20-22 amps. It's just the way it is. 40 amps is never required and shouldn't ever be used.

If you're really interested in saving money, you might want to try using a timer that switches the power off during times when you're not home. Keep in mind that when using these, you'll probably want to use an insulating blanket on the unit so that the water remains warmer than a stock tank's insulation would provide. The results are mixed about using timers though. I'm not a big fan of them or setback thermostats, but to some, they actually seem to help.