The problem with those "On Demand" water heaters is that they are expensive.

You might want to look into Point of Use water heaters. They are more expensive to buy/install but save a fortune in hydro/gas and they work quite well. Some areas provide government vouchers or rebates because they are more environmentally friendly than traditional tank water heaters. They are also MUCH smaller than a big ole tank so it saves square footage in your home.

@Jeff... they make electric ones as well.

Thanks guys.  This is great!

Jeff, we might consider a gas one, but gas bottles are pretty expensive these days (we're out of town, so can't get a town hook-up.)

Beepster...I noticed those point-of-use heaters.  That would be sweet...but do you need one in every bathroom and the kitchen?  

On a side note...for several years we lived in a very out-of-the way place, but happened to be near a power line, so we had electricity, which was unusual there.  My husband found the heating unit from an old dishwasher when we lived in a big city for a few months, brought it home and installed it above the shower...a hot shower that hardly used any electricity OR gas, and didn't require heating water on the stove for a bucket shower...it felt like luxury. :)

So, I guess we've had a point-of-use heater before. :) 

djwayne:  great idea to turn the temperature down.  I've never figured out why water needs to be so hot it almost burns your hands!  Thanks for the link to the timer too.  We'll definitely look into it.  Right now this is our rental house, and our oldest son is living in it.  But I don't want them to waste $ on power, nor do I want to if we move into it.  

Mike, thanks for those links!   

If your plumbing is installed in a semi vertical line (like your laundry room, kitchen and bathrooms are all in the same general area of the house but on different floors which is how many homes are built) then one large unit in the basement will suffice provided you aren't feeding hot water to more that two or three floors. However if you have sinks elsewhere in the house you can get small units to provide hot water to those taps. The idea is you don't want to have to drain all the water that is already in the pipes to get to the hot stuff. This is also a good idea for saving energy even with a tank system but the water in the tank is already heated so the cost difference is minimal to feed taps in more remote locations of the home. Whereas with an instant heater you are paying to heat water that won't be used. I hope that made sense... I'm a little scattered at the moment. :-)

The Energy Star symbol is what you're looking for. The higher the rating, the more effecient it will be. Make sure the new one runs on the same size breaker, generally 30 amps. The larger the water heater, the larger the power consumption. If it's outside get an insulating blanket for it and insulate any exposed piping-tubing. Make sure the elements are the removable-replaceable type. It's optional whether or not you want to roll the old one down the mountain while shooting it with high powered rifles.

Even better you can do the old hot water tank rocket experiment.

Tankless water heaters are great. My SIL has one. 

I am really glad you didn't call it a "hot water heater", that is pretty much standard around here. 

J

I've never figured out why water needs to be so hot it almost burns your hands!

Because the dishwasher wont work very well if the water isn't hot enough. I keep mine pretty hot, it also stretches the hot water when you run a bath or anything that uses a good bit of hot water.


J

Not sure how much this will help, but some food for thought ...

We had a tankless/on demand electric water heater for a good 6 ~ 7 years before it died. Depending on how big your house is, how many story's, where you place it, it can take a very long time for the actual hot water to work it's way through the pipes to your showers and faucets. Reason is, a tank heater keeps the water hot and the heat transfers through the pipes and keeps the line warm to a certain extent. Make sure you buy that tube shaped foam insulation for all your hot water pipes.

Some of those tankless heaters need regular maintenance. You have to check the heating elements to make sure they aren't leaking, but it's just a quick turn of a wrench and you're good to go.

Ours eventually died because I didn't know at the time you had to check the elements, they leaked, rusted out, and the elements opened (came apart and didn't heat any more). Another thing ... they usually come with a lifetime warranty on the elements ... but if they are no longer in business, or they rust from leaking ... you're out of luck.

We replaced it with a Rheem brand tank heater that maintains the water temp in a tank and we saw no difference in our electric bill. I think the reason is, we had to run the tankless one so long before hot water got to where we needed it that it actually used more electricity than the Rheem because it ran longer. Tankless ones draw a LOT more amperage than a traditional tank water heater, but they run significantly less so in the long run, they are supposed to save money. Again, it greatly depends on how long your pipe runs are, and if your basement is heated. If it's 55 down there in the winter, your pipes are going to cool off very fast.

I don't even know the specs on the Rheem we have, I never heard of them to be honest. It was bought for a project where my wife used to work, the project got canceled, and they threw it out, so she got permission to bring it home. Brand new. It sat in our basement in the shipping container for 8 years before we ended up needing it.

The idea to put small tankless heaters right at the source of usage is a great idea. That's what I'm going to do next time around. It saves massive amounts of water because you don't have to run the faucet waiting for the water to get hot, and the elements aren't running as long so you save a lot in electricity. Plus, if one goes bad ... you have backups at other places in your house. They make small ones just for this purpose.

If you have a smaller house with short pipe runs you probably wouldn't benefit from a heater at each sink/shower.

On a side note ... something I learned the short time I was fixing appliances ... thanks to the Feds ... all new dishwashers have to run at a certain efficiency. The water going in to dishwashers has to be 120F as soon as the wash cycle starts. If not, some will throw an error code or the wash cycle will take a lot longer. The fix is, run your tap water until the water is hot so it takes less time to get to the dishwasher ... so in reality, we're actually wasting more water because of the newer 'efficiency'.