Went Tankless

[Magicman]

I decided to replace the LP water heater at the Cabin with an electric on demand tankless heater.

So the tank has to go.

After pumping it out the old heater made it to the back porch.

This is a 240 volt unit requiring #6 wiring and a 60 amp breaker. I made room for the additional breaker by using piggyback breakers on 4 of the existing 120 volt circuits.

I initially set it for 105 degrees and will adjust it up/down after we give it a test run. Time will tell.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Sounds like the 13KW unit. If so ,up here it'd cost me $3.25 Canucks every hour to operate. 240V * 54A /1000 *.25. My hydro is 25 cents per KwH.
For some 'silly' reason, being close to Niagara Falls make electricity cost more.....

 

[D2Cat]

Sounds like the 13KW unit. If so ,up here it'd cost me $3.25 Canucks every hour to operate. 240V * 54A /1000 *.25. My hydro is 25 cents per KwH.
For some 'silly' reason, being close to Niagara Falls make electricity cost more.....

It may sound expensive, but isn't one hour of hot water a few days use at a cabin? The gas heater he removed was keeping water warm ALL the time!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Around here with NG and propane being as cheap as it is, no reason to use Edison for HW at all. That may change in the future but for now, Edison is the moat expensive source. Install is much simpler (point of use) however.

 

[Magicman]

It may sound expensive, but isn't one hour of hot water a few days use at a cabin? The gas heater he removed was keeping water warm ALL the time!

Exactly right. The pilot would keep the water warm 24 - 7 when the Cabin is unattended but that pilot also sucked ~100 gallons of LP out of the tank each year. This has been a long time coming and I won't think about how many $$ have gone up in smoke since I completed the Cabin build in 1996.

With this tankless unit, I only pay when hot water is used.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

MM, I assume you heat the cabin '24/7' to prevent freezeup disasters ? Say 45*F with confirmed monitoring ??

 

[Magicman]

Wrong assumption, the Cabin is unheated when unattended. (Note that I live in South Mississippi.)

 

[GreensvilleJay]

hmm, guess there ain't no snow there !!! 'cabin' makes me think of 'up north'. gotta be nice NOT to have freezing temps .... was 24*F here overnight....skim ice on all the buckets of water, frosty roofs, leaves falling to the ground enmass...
curious as to what hydro costs in your neck of the woods....
Jay

 

[imnukensc]

Went with an LPG tankless a couple years ago. No pilot light. Think I have mine set at 130° F.

 

[Magicman]

I thought about LP tankless but my goal was to rid myself of having to fill the LP tank again.

hmm, guess there ain't no snow there !!!

What is this "snow" that you speak of??

As long as our outside water lines are buried deeper than the grass roots, they will not freeze. It is forecast to be a bitter bone chilling 37 degrees Tuesday morning....Yikes !!!

I will have to wait (and remember) until next month to see what our electric costs. Ours is drafted and the notice has already been discarded

 

[ctfjr]

Being in the distribution (wholesale) end of the business I think the OP has the right product for his application. Sure there are plenty of negatives for using an instantaneous electric heater (limited recovery, cost of fuel) but for a cabin application it sounds perfect. Its the least complicated device and cost of operation really isn't a factor for limited use.
We sell EVERY type of hot water heating device and assuming the electric service was big enough I would install the same thing in a cabin.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I'm getting my 199,000 BTU LP combi unit ( Hydronic heat and DHW) delivered tomorrow.
We need heat!