Tankless Hot Water Systems

With energy efficiency becoming more important every day, we all need better and newer methods of saving energy and hopefully money as well.

Tankless, instantaneous, or on-demand hot water is gaining in popularity.  Energy efficiency is reported to be in the 95-97% efficient range for condensing units.  Tankless heaters only heat the water when you turn on the tap, they run quietly, and CO2 emissions are reduced by 900 to a 1000 lbs per household on average.

The question for you is whether it’s right for you. You need to know what you’re getting into. Tankless may work great for some families, but it’s not for everybody.

No Tanks

The main point to understand is that there is no storage tank and so there’s no hot water storage at all.

With a tankless system, when you turn on a hot water tap, this is what happens:

• Opening the faucet lets water  flow inside the pipe and out of the faucet.
• A flow sensor within the tankless system detects this flow within a few seconds.
• Once flow is detected, the computer activates the unit, starting up the burners and exhaust fan
• The cold water goes through these burners in  to a heat exchanger (a series of small water tubes or channels) quickly heating the water to the set temperature (also continually monitored by the computer).
• When heated to the set temperature, the hot water is sent on its way to the open faucet.
• When the faucet is closed, the flow sensor recognizes the water flow has stopped and notifies the computer , which then shuts down the burner and goes dormant until the next call for hot water by an open hot water tap.

Most hot showers run about 105 degrees so the tankless unit will need to raise the water temperature 65 degrees. To accomplish this temperature rise, we can estimate the flow rate to be around 3½ to 4 GPM. With a shower head that only allows 2½ GPM of flow, we have about 1 ½ to 2 GPM of room.   Fingers crossed that no-one turns on a dishwasher or wash machine!

An older hot water tank, works like this:

• When you turn on a hot water tap, water flows from your hot water tank (that is already filled with hot water) to the faucet.
• There are generally no computers, no fans, no waiting for burners to come on to heat,  and no flow reduction based on temperature demand. Its full flow all the way at 140 degrees.  Some higher efficient tanks  do have venting fans and some have small valve computers but very simplistic in their operation.
• A standard hot water tank can easily handle simultaneous usage. No need to turn off the wash machine or dishwasher when someone is in the shower. Flow limitations for a standard hot water tank system is dependent upon the waterline sizing, not the water heating capability.
• The cold water usually enters the tank via an inlet tube that directs the water to the bottom of the tank, where upon heating the water, it rises up to the outlet pipe. If you use up all the hot water in the tank, you have to wait for that cold water to heat which can take up to an hour with a typical tank.

Energy Efficiency

Most tankless units are energy efficient within the unit themselves. With higher end condensing units upwards to 97% energy efficiency rating, you may be surprised that some natural gas hot water tanks have energy efficiency ratings as high as 95%. Some commercial hot water tanks are rated as high as 99.1% efficient. You can (sp) touch a modern tank fully heated and feel nothing but cool metal due to high insulation factors. Modern hot water tank heaters are much more efficient than they used to be; however, the cost of these tanks has increased substantially in price, so often the tankless is a much more sensible solution in the long term.

Rebates

As of writing this, there are government rebates to assist you in upgrading to a tankless system. We can help you apply and ensure you qualify for any rebates available. With government policy shifting to increased energy efficiency, it might be time to adapt to the tankless system.

No insulation on the hot water lines

A major cause of heating loss comes hot water lines in the house that aren’t insulated. If you have a tankless water heater with watering running through uninsulated water lines, it loses energy the whole way along the line until. This is why the water gradually gets warmer until its hot. The same is true for typical storage hot water tanks. The simple solution is to insulate as much of the visible hot water line as possible.

Cold Water Sandwich

People investigating tankless systems will hear the term “cold water sandwich”. With a tankless system, let say your teenager just had a shower so the lines between the shower and the tankless heater are hot. When someone else now has a shower, there is immediate hot water because the lines are all full of hot water. But remember, with tankless systems, while the flow sensor is waiting for a ½ gallon of cold water to go through it before it starts heating, you’ve got a ½ gallon of cold water in the line coming towards you. This is no longer a problem as most systems use a buffering tank, where a small amount of hot water is available to eliminate that rush of cold water.

Delivery time of hot water

With tankless systems, there is no hot water sitting and waiting. That means there is no heat traveling up the hot water line constantly heating the waiting water in the line. That's great for energy savings, but it can also allow the water to cool faster than a typical tank system. So turning on the water at the tap furthest away from your tankless means you may have to wait a little longer than with a tank system. In a typical home, that can mean about 10-20 seconds longer, but larger homes could be worse depending on size and piping layout.

So what to do about this? (Moved from below) Some systems like various Navien models utilize an internal circulating pump. It is installed in such a way that circulates the water back through the system and mixes it with some heated water. It can be a useful method of dealing with the temperature issue but it does affect the overall efficiency. Still more efficient than the old systems, but not much of an improvement in delivery time.

With the internal circulating pump, we can also install a recirculating line back to a faucet as far away from the tankless as possible, where the hot water is continuously circulating, making hot water available faster. If the line is longer than typical, we may need to install an external circulating pump to assist.

Another method we don't recommend is to run the hot water back to the tankless via the cold water line, where a valve is installed at the furthest faucet. Hot water is always available but when the cold water is turned on, the circulation valve closes to allow the cold water loop to be isolated. The trouble with this method is that all the hot water in that cold water line needs to escape into the drain before you get cold water. So really just the reverse problem.

We can put in a water storage tank to work in conjunction with a tankless heater. Anywhere from a 2 to 30 gallon electric works just fine for this. It acts as a buffer to ensure that any cold water is completely absorbed by the hot water tank. Also, the electric tank will always ready and waiting for you, full of hot water, so you truly get the instantaneous heat you’ve grown accustomed to. Instead of the electric tank having to heat up cold 40 degree water, it is fed only hot water from the tankless heater, making it more efficient. But you can argue that you lose efficiency due to the electric tank.

Final thoughts

The biggest plus that I can give to a tankless system is that it provides reliable comfort. If you are feeling under the weather, or sore from yesterday’s golf game, you can enjoy a longer and more comfortable shower. Another bonus is that it takes up less space. It hangs up very nicely on the wall. When installed correctly, it’s a clean-looking unit. When installed correctly, a tankless system can be as more efficient than a high-efficiency storage tank, but the installation price is certainly higher. If you're (sp) convinced a tankless system is right for your situation, get a price quote for installing a tankless hot water heater in your home.

Are you in need of help with your hot water tank? It might be time for a service call, or it could be damaged and has to be repaired or replaced. That’s where we come in!

At Airco Heating and Cooling Ltd., we are here to supply you with any of your hot water tank requirements within the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

We install Navien Brand tankless heaters and we service all makes and designs of tankless hot water heaters in Surrey, Langley, Delta, White Rock, and other areas, including: