Propane or Electric on demand tankless hot water heater.
Last Post 15 Dec 2015 09:27 AM by Dana1. 1 Replies.
Printer Friendly
Sort:
PrevPrev NextNext
You are not authorized to post a reply.
Author Messages
greeninsulationUser is Offline
New Member
New Member
Send Private Message
Posts:19

--
15 Dec 2015 09:10 AM
Live in Fernandina FL, (almost to GA) where electricity is much cheaper than other parts of the country.  Want to install on demand hot water heater but not sure if we are best to go with electric or propane, no natural gas here yet.   Would like to hear others opinions and suggestions about which units are best etc.  Have 3 bedroom home on a slab and only 2 people living here but do like a hot bath!
Thanks
Dana1User is Offline
Senior Member
Senior Member
Send Private Message
Posts:6991

--
15 Dec 2015 09:27 AM
A heat pump water heater inside the house would lower your air conditioning bill by pumping that heat into the hot water, but it takes up as much space as any other tank heater. In FL you can safely put it in a garage with no freeze-up risk, or out on a porch if you insulate the lines. In a garage or outdoors it will run very efficiently (more efficiently in summer than in winter), but won't give you the modest air conditioning benefit.

An electric on-demand water heater requires a dediicated 50A 230VAC circuit, which you may or may not have remaining capacity for on your line. It's a huge intermittent load, which is the least-friendly kind of load to put on the utility (and by extension, other ratepayers.) If the regulations change so that residential ratepayers are assessed "demand charges" based on the highest draw in any 15 minute period an electric tankless is an extreme liablity. (So far very few utilities assess residential demand charges, but many are considering it, particularly in areas where there are many rooftop solar installations.)

If you have a big soaker tub you might need an 80 gallon heat pump water heater, but most houses can do just fine with a 50. The 3rd generation GE GeoSpring has apparently addressed all of the early model issues, and is fairly attractively priced. Heat pump water heaters are even subsidized by the utility in many areas as a cheap way of lowering peak grid loads.
You are not authorized to post a reply.

Active Forums 4.1
Membership Membership: Latest New User Latest: croccohvacusa New Today New Today: 0 New Yesterday New Yesterday: 0 User Count Overall: 35027
People Online People Online: Visitors Visitors: 182 Members Members: 0 Total Total: 182
Copyright 2011 by BuildCentral, Inc.   Terms Of Use  Privacy Statement