On Apr 17, 12:12 pm, Harry Krause wrote:
JimH wrote:
"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:05:18 -0400, JimH penned the following well
considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

Just had to use a Chuck trick of mentioning piece a boating hardware to
make
this on topic.

Has anyone ditched their hot water tank(s) in their house and replaced
it/them with a tankless water heater?

Just curious as our two 50 gallon hot water tanks are 15 years and at/near
their useful life. Replacing them does not make sense with the advances
in
tankless water heater technology. Many of these tankless water heaters
are
also eligible for a $300 tax credit.

I am looking at the Bosch 2400E (natural gas) which can supply 2 showers
simultaneously, or so the specs say.

Any tankless water heater users out there?

I looked into this, but cannot, yet, justify it. A good system is
QUITE pricey. My personal take is that gas is the only way to go....
unless you have a LOT of extra ampacity in your electric supply (150A
or more).

Thus, the system is a big radiator, in reverse, that accepts BTU from
a gas flame (think either venting or exterior installation) and
transfers the heat to the water passing through the "radiator" on to
the hot water system. It only heats water on demand... except exterior
units have an ability to assure that the unit doesn't freeze in very
cold weather. Most of this is controlled by new fangled solid state
circuitry, which on some units is the Achilles heel. Frankly, that
doesn't have to be so, because my Dad said one of these units was in
his boarding house in Newport News when he lived there in 1929.

My division chair is looking hard at these units and his research has
led him to believe that these are the premier units:
http://www.foreverho****er.com/

There is also a lot of info at the site, too...

--

Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Oak Island, NC.

Homepage
http://pamandgene.idleplay.net/

Rec.boats at Lee Yeaton's Bayguide
http://www.thebayguide.com/rec.boats

You can grab the Bosch 2400E for $800 or so on Ebay, with another $200 for
the SS horizontal vent kit. Take away the $300 tax credit and you are
looking at about the same price of a good quality 40-50 gallon NG hot water
tank.

The rub.........you need a minimum 3/4" gas line. I just found this out
from a contractor quoting on the installation. We only have 1/2" at the hot
water tank room and our ceiling in the basement is finished. The only
solution is trenching in a new 1" line outside to the hot water tank room at
a cost of about $1,500.

The next rub......that same contractor quoted an install price of $1,500
over and beyond running a new gas line.

So we would be looking at a total cost of around $4,000.

Another contractor is coming in this afternoon for an estimate.

I just did some research into high efficiency hot water tanks (12 year
warranty, 2" insulation, electronic ignition) and it looks like it would
take 20 years to make up the difference in operating costs between these
units and the tankless.

It looks like a single new 50 gallon tank is in our future. ;-)

Or...you could tell the wimmins in your life to bathe in cold water.
That would guarantee bachelorhood...and lower energy costs.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Only if the DO bathe......