EcoRenovator - View Single Post - My Intermatic WH40 install... (electric hot water heater timer)

AC_Hacker · 01-09-14, 09:55 AM

Nice install, good photos & write up. A good way to minimize standing heat loss.

But, I add this digression as an option...

I put in a tankless gas demand water heater about 15 years ago and it has proven itself to be very reliable & inexpensive.

Modern storage DWH have gotten much better since I got my tankless. But I have come to understand that frequency of use can shift the comparative cost-of-ownership one way or the other.

For me, living solo, my flash heater can't be beat, as the usage pattern is dominated by long periods of inactivity, when the tankless uses and loses no energy. The fact that tankless supplies unlimited hot water is no advantage to me.

When I was a family guy, and hot water demand was frequent and relentless, the economics would have made demand heating more difficult to justify, leaving limitless hot water supply the only advantage.

-AC

01-09-14, 09:55 AM	#14
AC_Hacker Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 4,004 Thanks: 303 Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts	Nice install, good photos & write up. A good way to minimize standing heat loss. But, I add this digression as an option... I put in a tankless gas demand water heater about 15 years ago and it has proven itself to be very reliable & inexpensive. Modern storage DWH have gotten much better since I got my tankless. But I have come to understand that frequency of use can shift the comparative cost-of-ownership one way or the other. For me, living solo, my flash heater can't be beat, as the usage pattern is dominated by long periods of inactivity, when the tankless uses and loses no energy. The fact that tankless supplies unlimited hot water is no advantage to me. When I was a family guy, and hot water demand was frequent and relentless, the economics would have made demand heating more difficult to justify, leaving limitless hot water supply the only advantage. -AC __________________ I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...