Almost In Hot Water

Almost In Hot Water was Originally Posted on March 15, 2013 by lavarock

A solar water company is willing to place panels on my roof and lease them to me, effectively reducing my electric cost in half. It’s a long story but I can’t take advantage of this deal now.

Since heating hot water is the main expense of electric for me right now, I could buy a timer for the hot water heater, install solar hot water or use an on-demand water heater. I opted for the latter.

A solar hot water heater requires a roof-mount unit, which is similar to the solar electric panels. because I can’t do that either right now, the on-demand is my choice.

On-demand has been popular in many places, in that you only heat water as you need it. As water flows through the unit, heat is applied. When the water flow stops, the heat turns off.

They make units for electric, gas and with a small change, propane. In Hawaii, propane is not a bad choice to heat water.

If you get large propane tanks, you generally have to have a company deliver the tanks and top them off. I will opt for smaller tanks that I can take into town and refill at competitive prices.

These units are sized depending upon the expected rate of simultaneous water usage so if you have lots of bathrooms or simultaneous users, you would need a larger or multiple units. For me, a small unit should suffice and I don’t shower and run the dishwasher at the same time.

So, without needing to store and keep reheating a tank of water, this will save lots of money. I will have hot water as long as the tank has propane, unlike a big holding tank that starts hot and slowly turns warm as the cold water takes the place us used hot water.

So, did I get a deal? I think so! These units can cost $700 and up, still not a bad price when you consider it replaces a water heater of not much less cost. On Ebay, a seller bought one and found that in his house, he could not use it and meet code,. Code is the government regulation about how close to windows, what kind of venting is needed, etc. He decided not to install it and my purchase is covered, so I’m sure the product is as he described, etc. My cost, including shipping via the slow boat, $355!

I’ll report back when it finally gets installed and how my electric bill drops.