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unheatedgarage · 10-02-13, 10:55 AM

Hi, a little thread necromancy here.

My old 40 gal gas water heater died this summer. Instead of replacing it, I went with point-of-use electric heaters (120v; 16 amps) under the kitchen and bathroom sinks. The bathroom heater also got branched off to supply hot water for the tub. At less than a third of a gallon a minute, it makes for super minimal showers, but it does the trick.

I measured up to 120 degree water coming out of the faucet in August (which was too hot then), but as the weather’s been cooling down I fear the heaters might not be able to warm up the cold ground water enough to make for a comfortable shower. However, since this is a one-person household, I’m not concerned about anyone else being unhappy with the set up. Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing how much my water and gas usage drops compared to last winter.

As far as the work of re plumbing went, that was the easy part--just capped off the hot water lines and plumbed the heaters directly off the cold water. The hard part was going back-and-forth to the hardware store trying to figure out what fittings I needed.

All in all, I’m pleased with the results. I, too, am curious what bikin’ Ed ended up doing...

10-02-13, 10:55 AM	#11
unheatedgarage Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: The Ozarks Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Hi, a little thread necromancy here. My old 40 gal gas water heater died this summer. Instead of replacing it, I went with point-of-use electric heaters (120v; 16 amps) under the kitchen and bathroom sinks. The bathroom heater also got branched off to supply hot water for the tub. At less than a third of a gallon a minute, it makes for super minimal showers, but it does the trick. I measured up to 120 degree water coming out of the faucet in August (which was too hot then), but as the weather’s been cooling down I fear the heaters might not be able to warm up the cold ground water enough to make for a comfortable shower. However, since this is a one-person household, I’m not concerned about anyone else being unhappy with the set up. Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing how much my water and gas usage drops compared to last winter. As far as the work of re plumbing went, that was the easy part--just capped off the hot water lines and plumbed the heaters directly off the cold water. The hard part was going back-and-forth to the hardware store trying to figure out what fittings I needed. All in all, I’m pleased with the results. I, too, am curious what bikin’ Ed ended up doing...