Question by joseph w: Electric tankless hot water heater ?
We are in the process of building a new home and it is time to pick out the hot water heaters. There is so much information out there and I need some help choosing the right one! Here are some details…
We live on Gulf Coast in MS (so it’s warm almost all year)
master bedroom – 2 sinks, 125 gal whirlpool tub, separate shower
2 other bathrooms with tub and shower, 1 double sink, 1 single sink
1 additional bathroom with double sink, stand up shower only
Kitchen – sink, dishwasher (cant think of anything else that would need hotwater ??)
Laundry roomm – Washing Machine (a larger one – we are a family of 6)
We do not want gas at all in the house so it must be electric, but I was wondering how the solar/electric tankless units work too, and with all of the bathrooms and appliances using so much hot water how many units would we need to purchase.
Thanks so much! I cant wait to get some insight! This is a very important decision that must be made soon!
note: my husband is dead set against gas. He does not want a gas tank buried underground in our backyard and if truly afraid the house could blow up if we have gas. (his ex wife’s house burned down 5 years ago and his son died in the fire, our house burned down 15 months ago. This was due to an electrical storm, but really there is no changing his mind. I agree with you though. ughhh)
Best answer:
Answer by Woody
I do not think they have caught on very well. Not sure why. We just built a new house (in Indiana) and neither the architect nor the custom home builder recommended them.
With all your needs for hot water, you would need several tankless units, so I bet it would be significantly more expensive than one large elec water heater.
If you are worried about how fast hot water arrives at a given location, you can put an inexpensive return pump for those locations that are further away from the water heater. These are simple, all it does is keep hot water circulating from the tank to the faucet and back so there is always hot water at the faucet.
Just curious – why don’t you want natural gas? It is WAY less expensive than elec. If for safety reasons, gas is just as safe as elec.
What do you think? Answer below!
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