How Tankless Water Heaters Work

plentiful and reliable hot water is essential for civilized life and tankless water heaters are the most recent major Innovation to hit the Canadian household scene now while the name tankless does tell part of the story up front there's more that you need to understand when you're deciding whether a tankless water heater is right for you so sit back and let me give you a tour of one of the most impressive tankless water heaters I've seen so far I'll explain the pros and cons of the technology in general and then I'll also show you some of the specific technical features that have impressed me the most most Canadian homes have tank style water heaters now these haven't changed much since indoor plumbing became a regular part of Canadian home construction more than 75 years ago an energy source typically electricity natural gas or propane warms the water stored in the tank until a thermostat shuts off the source of energy at a preset temperature level now as that tank cool cools off the thermostat turns on the source of energy again warming up the water bringing it up to temperature even if no hot water has been used from the TAPS at all the energy wasted making up for the heat loss from tank style heaters is called standby energy losses and this is the main reason why tankless water heaters are more efficient than tank style now as simple as a tank heater is it's also very large and taking up a lot of floor space the average one is more than 2 ft in diameter and almost as tall as an adult now as you'd guess from the name tankless water heaters have no tank that's why they're so small instead they heat the water instantly as it's demanded as soon as a hot water tap is turned on anywhere in your home internal sensors inside the heater detect the flow and ignite the propane or natural gas that heats the water for the second or two that it's flowing through the unit the moment you shut off a hot water tap anywhere in your house the flame and the Heat stops too fill a sink to do some dishes and the tankless heater is going to heat a gallon or two whatever you need and no more when it's time to take a shower that same unit is going to heat a couple of gallons of water each minute up to 120° or hotter whatever you need for as long as you want to stand in the steaming spray stream tankless water heaters never run out of hot water the fact that tankless units only heat water as it's needed is why this technology is sometimes called on demand water heaters now besides a complete freedom from standby energy losses and a continuous supply of hot water as long as you want these units are also very small these are the three main advantages of tankless technology where a typical 60 Gall water heater might take up 72 cubic feet of volume the Japanese made Rai model I'm looking at here takes up just two cubic feet of space and yet it puts out more than 300% more heat than a typical natural gas tank heater now selected and installed correctly this model can deliver enough hot water for two showers operating continuously even if the incoming water temperature is a frigid 50° fah or 10° C tankless water heaters do cost more than tank style equivalents and this is one reason why tankless technology is not for everyone tankless water heaters are definitely not bottom drawer technology another issue you need to know about is water chemistry now in cases with particularly hard water or unusual pH levels it's going be a problem sometimes for some tankless units it's not typical but before you make any final buying decisions have your dealer check out your water chemistry first saving energy and saving space these are the things that make tankless water heaters attractive but there's another thing that you might not have considered before because these units are so small it's possible to locate them closer to the faucets and Taps that are used most often this means that there's less time wasted and less water wasted waiting for that hot wire to arrive in the tub or sink after you've turned the faucet on now as you might imagine it takes a high rate of energy transfer to warm the water as quickly as it's passing through the tankless water heater this is why natural gas or propane fired tankless units are superior to electric powered ond demand water heaters to to keep this High rate of energy transfer happening efficiently the Rai model here includes internal circuitry that monitors the cleanliness of the heat exchanger activating a warning light when that exchanger needs some cleaning maintenance now that operation is quite easy thanks to these isolation valves they allow a mineral dissolving vinegar solution to be pumped through the heat exchanger as occasional maintenance without removing any of the pipes exhaust venting is another issue to consider when you're looking at any combustion style water heater many tank style gas water heaters require a full-blown chimney while the Rai model here extracts so much heat from the outgoing exhaust stream that you can vent it directly through the wall if you want to another issue is that many tank style water heaters require a dual pipe power venting system while this model vents with just a single concentric vent one very important issue to consider when choosing a tank style water heater is heating capacity in the early days some Canadians were disappointed with undersized tankless water heaters that didn't put out enough heat to keep multiple faucets hot at the same time the unfortunate result was a lukewarm shower if you happen to be taking one when someone else in the house was washing their hands or filling up the bathtub now the renai model here impresses me because it puts out so much heat in this tiny package 80,000 BTUs per hour now even with an incoming water temperature of 50° F that's about 10° C and an outgoing hot water temperature of 120° f or 49° C this is enough to produce four gallons of steaming hot water every minute now that's enough for two decent showers being taken at the same time although the rl75i model shown here is intended for interior use it's an interesting feature that's especially welcome here in Canada if the unit is installed in an indoor room that happens to drop down below freezing sensors turn on a little bit of electricity to stop that internal water from freezing and damaging the unit this happens whether water is demanded or not and it just protects the unit from any accidental damage due to Sub-Zero temperatures tankless water heaters are not for everyone in every situation but they do make sense for more more Canadian households than have them now saving energy saving space and a continuous supply of steaming hot water are the reasons that tankless make sense and if you think about it what could be more comforting and civilized than that

Channel: Bailey Line Road

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Keywords: tankless water heater, water heater, plumber, reliance water heater, bradford white, water tank, tankless water heater price, hot water on demand, rheem water heater, electric tankless water heater, hot water tank, electric water heater, on demand water heater, gas water heater, hot water heater, rinnai tankless water heater, rheem tankless water heater, tankless gas water heater, noritz tankless, homesteading, steve maxwell, bailey line road, diy projects, do it yourself

Id: 7PRHxJ1RNLw

Length: 7min 17sec (437 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 12 2013