![[X] Close](http://www.tanklesshotwaterguide.ca/wp-content/themes/mystique2/images/close.png)
Tankless Water Heaters
Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Water Heater Diseases
May 15th
Check out most energy saving tips on green promoting websites and one of the key things they recommend is to reduce the temperature of your homes water heater. What they don’t say is that this puts your family at risk of catching Legionnaires Disease, a potentially deadly bacterial infection that can be one of the causes of pneumonia.
Legionnaires Disease thrives in hot water environments, below is a list of where it thrives and dies at different temperature settings.
- 70 to 80 °C (158 to 176 °F): Disinfection range
- 66 °C (151 °F): die within 2 minutes
- 60 °C (140 °F): die within 32 minutes
- 55 °C (131 °F): die within 5 to 6 hours
- Above 50 °C (122 °F): survive but do not multiply
- 20 to 50 °C (68 to 122 °F): growth range
- Below 20 °C (68 °F): survive but are dormant
Legionnaires Disease is perfectly suited to survive within a conventional hot water tank as temperatures constantly fluctuate with colder temperatures at the bottom and hotter at the top. A regular tank also never completely empties so some of the bacteria always persist and continue to re-populate. It is estimated that nearly 25% of all water heaters are contaminated with this bacteria.
Legionnaires Disease can be caught through a number of ways but these are most popular; inhaling water vapours in a shower or bathroom, though choking while drinking and contaminated water entering your lungs.
A tankless water heater does not have the potential to contract and harbour Legionnaires Disease. A tankless completely flushes its system every time the hot water is tuned on making it nearly impossible for Legionnaires Disease to repopulate the system. If you have elderly or young children in your home it may be a good time to switch to a tankless water heater.
Striking Reliance Workers
May 8th
As we previously predicted in this article Reliance Home Comfort has gone on strike. The union represeting some 300 workers is seeking a fair agreement. Talks are scheduled to get started again but the company seems persistent in clawing back pensions, benefits, and overtime which is prolonging this strike.
CEP Local 1999 represents 295 clerical and operational employees of Reliance Home Comfort. This strike affects skilled workers who install HVAC equipment including Furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, and tankless water heaters. throughout Ontario. The offices are located in several cities around Ontario including, Windsor, Sarnia, London, Brantford, Cambridge, Burlington, Kingston, and Thunder Bay.
The striking reliance workers want to get back to serving the customers that make Reliance Home Comfort a successful enterprice but the current strike and lack of bargaining is adding to the difficulties. Relaince posted 60 million in profits last year, its important that they fairly remunerate the very people that helped attain such success.
Controversy Fires Debate Over Water Heaters – Review
May 4th
Controversy Fires Debate Over Water Heaters
This was the title of a recent article by Ian Harvey of the Toronto Star. The article (read it here) was well written and for the most part completely accurate, which is a bit of a shock considering most journalists seem to chastise tankless water heaters at any possible opportunity.
In his article Mr. Harvey mentions that he has a tankless or on-demand water heating system in his own home. His first hand experience is clearly beneficial allowing him to write about the positives of this system. He mentions that price is an issue and that they usually cost about double that of a conventional water heater. This is true and accurate and as such tankless systems still have very little penetration in the Toronto market with only about 5% of homes utilizing one. The majority of Toronto home owners rent their water heaters, which seems like a cheap and easy solution; until Direct Energy sneakily decides to change the contracts on its customers… 
As for installation Mr. Harvey addresses the 3 key elements correctly, you need to have natural gas at your home, running a gas line from the street for just a water heater is quite expensive. There needs to be an electrical socket near where the tankless will be installed. Lastly, there needs to be an adequate location where the vent can be situated outside the home.
The one thing I do feel Mr. Harvey was wrong on was the maintenance of a tankless system. Water drawn from Lake Ontario still has between 8-10 grains of water hardness, this wont clog up your tankless but it will reduce its efficiency within a few years. Having or performing a flush ensures you maintain the over 90% efficiency a tankless provides.
If you have any questions, are interested in a tankless or need a tankless flush drop us a quick email inquiries@tanklesshotwaterguide.ca or fill out the form below.
A Few Benefits of a Tankless Heater
Apr 30th
A tankless heater hangs on the wall so it should free up some space in your basement. We are all paying crazy amounts per square foot in our homes so it really only makes sense that we free up as much of it as possible.
It is crazy to rent a water heater, Ontario is a strange market, and most other Provinces don’t have such a large trend in water heater rentals. You can easily pay for conventional a water heater 3 times over by renting it over a period of 15 years. Sure a tankless is more expensive but they do have a significantly longer lifespan than a conventional tank and a tankless uses significantly less energy to heat your homes water.
A tankless heater is best mounted on an exterior wall which eases the venting requirements, although each unit has its own set of rules and regulations. You will need a nearby electrical socket as well as natural gas to your home. It’s hard to give a price for a tankless as there are numerous different models for certain homes and situations. Since we also live in Ontario our ground water in the winter is quite cold, this requires that we purchase and install powerful systems capable of raising water temperatures 70 or more degrees (50 Celsius). Tankless systems also are technologically advanced and can have remotes in bathrooms and kitchens, so if you know want your bath at 102 Fahrenheit you can simply set the tankless remotely to produce water at that exact temperature. Thus A tankless will be more expensive but for a rough estimate you’re looking at between $2200 and $3800 and again highly dependent on accessories and unit purchased.
Condensing tankless heaters are up to 98% efficient but they do cost a little more than the others which are around 82% efficient. A tankless has a significantly longer lifespan than a conventional tank so they do need to be flushed every few years… This is simply to remove the scale that builds up in all water heaters. On average a water heaters (tankless and conventional) efficiency rating is reduced by 2% per year due to scale build-up. Since a tankless can be cleaned it last longer and maintains its high efficiency. A conventional tank can lose 20-25 percent of its efficiency within 10 years, necessitating it be replaced.
If you have any more questions don’t be afraid to ask.
Tankless Maintenance Tasks
Apr 20th
Tankless maintenance is important, just like it is for your car. A tankless would probably run for a good 10 years without you doing a thing to it, but it will lose a lot of efficiency over time. To maintain tankless efficiency you need a service tech to do some basic maintenance tasks. One of the most important is flushing the system. 
Toronto has hard water and this causes build-up of deposits on the inside of the tankess. With the addition of heat the process is accelerated creating a sort crude insulation. This prevents the thorough transfer of heat to water and causes your tankless to run harder, longer and costing you more money. Flushing a tankless is a quick and cheap task that removes the build-up and barrier created by the hard water.
I would also recommend you check the fan and fan grill for dirt and debris build-up that can cause internal overheating. The next thing I would look at is the igniter, do a quick visual inspection looking for any apparent damage or potential issues.
If the tankless isn’t giving you any issues or warning I don’t think you need to any other steps to maintain it. Again though, the flush is probably the most important as it keeps your system in top performance.
If you are in the Greater Toronto Area send us an Email if you have any further questions or interested in having your system flushed.
info@tanklesshotwaterguide.ca
Reliance Home Comfort Strike/Lockout
Apr 13th
Reliance Home Comfort Strike/Lockout
Local 1999 is in bargaining with Reliance Home Comfort who have a set a firm deadline of April 16th at 12:01 am. The union has made several passes to Reliance but has been met with firm resistance. The proposal for a tiered CBA for new hires has been rejected and remains a firm sticking point.
The union’s position is to bargain for a fair and equitable deal for all members at Reliance Home Comfort team. They have until Sunday night and will bargain until the final seconds to avert any type of strike or lockout.
Reliance Home Comfort has refused to say whether they will be locking employees out or not.
This potential strike or lockout is between service reps and installers at Reliance Home Comfort. As a customer of this company you will likely experience a decrease in customer service in HVAC service and HVAC installations. If your equipment is running well and you don’t have any issues during this strike/lockout you likely wont even know it occurred.
You can read more at the CEP Local 1999 union statement
Master Predictions At Augusta National
Apr 5th
Our Master Predictions At Augusta National 2012
Well we all talked about it today and came up with our predictions for the winner of the Green Jacket this weekend.
- Hunter Mahan
- Lee Westwood
- Rory McIlroy
Hunter Mahan – He has a lot of momentem going for him, he is in the zone, we all see him pulling through and doing really well this weekend. He has more than showed his intentions and in 7 tournaments has placed in the top ten three times this year.
Lee Westwood – He has the talent and is due for a win. In the last 4 tournaments he has placed in he has placed in the top 10 twice.
Rory McIlroy - His blow up last year, well this year is redemption time. He has the skill and we all feel he will make this years attempt personal.
Potentials Candidates to Keep an Eye On
We had a lively debate on these candidates for the win.
- Bo Van Pelt
- Phil Mickelson
- Keegan Bradley
What About Tiger Woods?
We all seem to think he is out, the last tourney he won was lucky. He seems to be focusing too much on swing, mechanics, and form and it has ruined his game. The man is a golf god with a greater talent than any other player in history, the problem is that he doesnt belive it and had lost all of his confidence. For Tiger to get his mojo back (no pun intended) he needs to simply play golf and trust his instincts, dont worry about your mechanics, rely on the muscle memory and natural instincts that made you the greats golfer ever…. We predict a blowup and subsquent hissy fit of which Tiger will play himself right out of contention.
These are all simply predictions and recomend you take them with a grain of salt.
If we are correct we hope everyone who reads this looks at a tankless as an option for their homes hot water heating. A tankless is not right for every home and in many cases the tank you have is more than adequate. Yet, there are situations were a tankless is the correct choice.
- If your tank type water heater is older than 10 years you should consider a tankless
- If you live in an area of hard water, a tankless can be cleaned, a conventional tank can’t.
- If you go away frequently, why heat water when your not home.
- If you own a cottage, a tankless is a perfect option as you’re only there on weekends
- If you want to reduce the amount of natural gas your home is consuming
Dis you answer yes to any of those questions? Well get in contact with us and we can get you a free quote and information on how a tankless may be right for your home.
