Thoughts on tankless water heaters

[D1sc]

I lived in Europe for almost 20 years and still go there to visit on regular basis. I don’t need an article to tell me what my eyes can see.

Do you know how most of the houses and apartments are heated in Europe? It is water radiators that hang below the windows. That water is heated by a furnace, it used to be coal fired, but now it’s propane or natural gas.
That water is also used for showers, hand washing, dishes etc.
During winter hot water is simply a byproduct of heating your house.
The problem is that during summer, you don’t want to run the furnace just to get hot water. That’s where the small, point of use heaters come in.

In US, homes use forced air to heat and cool, that’s why we need separate water heaters.
A lot of new homes being built in Europe also implement forced air, so naturally they also need a separate hot water source.

But there is still a lot of old buildings and houses that use radiators.

To me it’s really interesting that they push for elimination of nat.gas. The electric on demand heater is a trainwreck with electric elements. I only have to recall the problems steam generators have and I have with my steam humidifier not to mention an average 2 outlet unit takes 120 amps or 3-2 pole 40 amp breakers. As a retired electrician I still tried to talk one guy that wanted one out of it even though it was a 200 a service,that kind of draw needs a dedicated panel.

 

[D1sc]

Yeah, with water like that, scale would be a secondary problem for sure.

We don’t drink it even after polishing it with a extra carbon only for sink and humidifier use.

 

[KrisZ]

To me it’s really interesting that they push for elimination of nat.gas. The electric on demand heater is a trainwreck with electric elements. I only have to recall the problems steam generators have and I have with my steam humidifier not to mention an average 2 outlet unit takes 120 amps or 3-2 pole 40 amp breakers. As a retired electrician I still tried to talk one guy that wanted one out of it even though it was a 200 a service,that kind of draw needs a dedicated panel.

That’s because Europe is crazy. Or rather those in power are. The population is mostly conformists especially when it comes to the environmental stuff.

 

[D1sc]

That’s because Europe is crazy. Or rather those in power are. The population is mostly conformists especially when it comes to the environmental stuff.

Then they wonder why firewood is in demand

 

[benjy]

put a stiebel eltron 220 V small on demand in conjunction with my oil burner for hot water when oil burner is off because my coal stove on the same flu is on, prolly 10 or so years without looking, only ME here + it serves me well!!

 

[Donald]

7 years isn't that old for a water heater. Replace the anode rod, flush it once/year and get something like this:

https://a.co/d/5P3bC3J

The heat pump water heater I ordered from Lowes has a built in leak detector and shut-off. I also have leak sensors throughout my house. And RH sensors in the crawl space.