Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Re: [puma-news] Energy savings

Don Van Wie wrote:

> On that note, think about a tankless water heater when its time to
> replace. They have gotten a lot better, and they avoid keeping 50
> gallons of water at 130 degrees 24/7 for a few minutes of use each day.
>
> *Don Van Wie*

A note about tankless water heaters. There are two basic types:
electric and propane/natural gas. If you use the electric type, a
rather large capacity circuit is required to raise the water temperature
to a reasonable temperature for washing dishes, bathing, showers etc. A
130v/30amp unit will NOT sufficiently raise the water temperature of the
cold water that is obtained from wells up here. I have one installed
and I have to use some hot water through a mixing valve with the cold
water to raise the temperature for use. To get sufficient hot water
without mixing hot and cold at the input of the unit requires a 220/240
volt unit and a lot of amps, something like 3-40 amp circuits. I don't
have experience with the propane/natural gas units.

Allen

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