Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Posts tagged environment
Solar Hot Water and a Tankless
Oct 31st
To really reduce your hot water heating charges you could look at adding an active solar water heater in conjunction with a tankless water heater. The rays from the sun would pre-heat the incoming water and then the tankless would simply finish the job. It’s difficult to get a solar water heater to produce water hot enough for today’s household demands, but with the technology in a tankless system it’s a perfect fit.
Tankless water heaters are smart no, they check incoming water temperature and vary their burners to adapt. So if you have relatively hot water coming in to a tankless it will scale down its natural gas injection to ensure that water out temperature is at your set level. If the burner is scaled down so is your gas bill as only a fraction of fuel is needed.
This is a complicated system and it will be costly, if you are doing this to save money you probably won’t see a breakeven point for a long time. If you’re interested and looking at installing a Frankenstein system you are probable doing it for the environment.
What’s required?
If your installing somewhere in the southern states this will be a lot easier as you don’t have to worry about sub-zero temperatures. Up here in Ontario it’s a definite issue and there are a few systems that can be installed. There is the Active Glycol-based system that circulates food grade glycol and transfers the heat via a heat exchanger to the potable water; this is less efficient but the safest and most popular system in Ontario. The other way is though a drain back system, potable water is forced though the solar collector and drains instantly when the water is shut off. Both these systems work to preheat a tankless systems incoming water supply ultimately reducing the heat and gas needed to raise water temperature to the desired warmth.
These dual systems are not very popular due to the increased expense but a tankless is well suited and designed for a hybrid system. If the idea seems interesting but the price too high you should note that they can be installed in stages, tankless first and then the flat plate solar collector.
Noritz Tankless
Nov 9th
Noritz vision is to fundamentally change the way hot water is viewed within North America. A transition that can reduce the negative environmental effects caused by manufacturing and using inefficient water heating appliances. Yet, comfort will not be sacrificed as technology is making water heating over 90% efficient.
Models
Noritz has a number of tankless water heaters, but only a select few are really capable of being used in Canada and Ontario for that matter. These below are the most popular tankless models currently.
- NR66
- NR71
- NR83
- NR98
- NR111
- NRC111
The NRC111 is Noritz condensing tankless coming in around the 92% efficiency range.
Maple Tankless
Sep 15th
Maple
Maple has a population or just over 50,000 with most of the homes being single detached. Owning a detached home
increases the likeliness of a tankless water heater meeting the venting requirements and being installed. Many people want to upgrade their systems but are unable to due to venting issues associated with the tankless.
Homes in Maple are also on average quite large, this poses a secondary question… how big of a tankless water heater should I go? A REP for the Maple region can come out free of charge and answer these questions for you.
If you’re living in the Maple region a tankless is a great upgrade for your home saving you money and using less energy which ultimately helps the environment.
Find out about tankless water heaters installers in the Maple area
Enbridge Gas Distribution $300 Rebate
Apr 29th
$300 Rebate
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Enbridge Gas Distribution is offering a new program that offers residential customers $300 off their gas bill with the installation of a new or rented tankless natural gas water heater. Enbridge has taken the trend
toward environmental stewardship and embraced it by offering clients an additional incentive to become more efficient.
Customers of Enbridge can become eligible for the rebate with the purchase of a tankless water heater that is a qualified energy star system. The primary brands that qualify are, John Wood, Navien, Paloma, Rheem, Takagi, Rinnai, and WaiWela. The hitch is that the units need to be installed before August 31, 2009. The territory severed mainly consists of, Toronto, York, Durham, and the Greater Toronto Area.
People can find out more at the Enbridge website here, or fill out a quick form and we will have some one call you to explain in greater detail
Unfortunately this program from Enbridge has ended… If something new does appear again we will be the first to notify you.
Environmental Water Heater
Mar 19th
Environmental Tankless
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- If you decide to Go tankless you can expect savings of up to 30-50% on your water heating costs.
– For every dollar of gas spent on heating water with a tank, 30 to 50 cents goes straight out the chimney. Tankless units are so efficient they ultimately pay for themselves through the energy savings they generate each month.
- Because water is heated on demand with a tankless water heater, you will never run out of hot water and the water temperature will always remains constant. You can take a shower, run the dish washer and use a tap at the same time with no interruption of water pressure or temperature. One of the best improvements is that family members can take showers one after another and you will never run out of hot water.
- Tankless systems last twice as long as typical conventional take type storage systems – about 20 years. And, unlike typical water storage tanks, tankless water heaters never rust, accumulate sediment, leak or flood your basement. Additionally, they are much safer because there is no active pilot light.
- Tankless water heaters reduce nitrous oxide (major smog producing gas) emissions by up to 80%. When you switch to a tankless water heater, you eliminate up to 1,000 pounds of polluting carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere every year!
Heating Water with a Tankless in Ontario
Feb 10th
Buying a Tankless in Ontario |

So you’re thinking of getting a tankless water heater and you live in Ontario, that’s good these systems are excellent for the environment and your bottom line. Most…. Actually all of these systems are designed outside our country and thus outside our climate. You should take some extra precautions before purchasing a system.
If you take a look at the map you can extrapolate a rough estimate of ground water temperatures for Ontario. Sorry there doesn’t seem to be an accurate map of Ontario’s ground water values anywhere. I would use 35-37 Fahrenheit as a good starting point; your incoming water will never be much colder than that. The tankless water heater you choose will need to warm the water up from your starting temperature to your desired level. If the incoming water is 35 and you want hot water to be 110 your tankless needs to heat the water 75 degrees. This is quite a relatively significant increase and to produce this level of rise requires the water to pass through the heat exchangers at a slower rate.
In the summer Ontario ground water is often between 50 and 65 Fahrenheit, to reach your desired 110 degree level the water only needs to be heated 45 degrees. Sensors in the tankless measure incoming and outgoing temperature levels and adjust flow rates accordingly. Thus a system rated to provide 5 GPM (gallons per minute) with only a 40 degree temperature rise will likely only produce maybe 2 GPM in the winter when water temperatures are really low.

When you’re purchasing a new tankless for your home make sure you pay close attention to the tankless heaters specifications. Make sure that it is able to provide an adequate flow rate when your incoming water temperatures are at the lowest in the winter.
Links
Jan 23rd
Tankless Water Heater Solutions Directory
Find tankless and hot water heater distributors. Showcasing the latest tankless hot water heater developments, news and trends to improve energy efficiency, lower costs and save the environment.
Rinnai – American Made Tankless Water Heaters.
Paloma — Tankless water heaters will serve your domestic hot water needs years to come with reliable performance
Navien — Navien tankless water heater official site
Bosch — Bosch official tankless water heater site
Takagi — Tankless water heaters by Takagi
Noritz — The Noritz tankless water heater website
Home Energy Audits — Ontario home energy audit service organization
Home Air Conditioners — Central Air Conditioners for your home that meet rebate requirements
The Tankless Hot Water Myth
Dec 17th
The Tankless Myth |
We have heard this SO many times that I have to try and explain why its completely just a misunderstanding.
Here is a version of the myth “because the water is heated instantly at the unit you will always have to wait for hot water at your tap” or “you have to run the water for a minute or so to get the hot water so its not really instantly hot”.
For some reason many people seem to think that these tankless systems are able to provide hot water at the tap instantly. We have even heard people claim that tankless hot water heaters are not environmentally friendly because you have to run the water for a period of time before the hot arrives.
Figure one.

From this image you can you can see the flow that water takes from a tankless to a tap. The black bar represents insulation, when no one is using hot water the insulation works to keep the existing water in the pipe hot. Over time this water does get cold, by morning the pipe will contain nothing but room temperature water. When you turn the hot water tap on it has to push all the cold water out of the tap, once its gone then you can get the warm water.
Figure Two.

From this image you can see that hot water needs to take the exact same route that hot water from the tankless must take. Therefor it has to push out all the cold water currently contained in the hot water pipe before the user will get hot water and thus there is really no difference between the two systems. Well one is much more economical and energy efficient then the other.
No one keeps there car running all night so that it hot in the morning why keep water in your house hot 24 hours/day? Tankless water heaters solve this problem, and there is practically no noticeable difference between the systems, well that’s not true there is a numerical one on your gas or electric bill.
Green $avers – Energy Audit
Dec 4th
Green$aver’s is an NRCan-licensed energy advising company that can conduct a thorough energy assessment and use the assessment to identify cost-effective energy efficient recommendations to implement, including draft-proofing and insulation. Green$aver can also be responsible for implementing the measures in each home with their experienced retrofit crews.
As with all audit companies Green$aver’s is an NRCan-licensed company that can show you how to improve the comfort of your home and cut heating and cooling costs, while ensuring adequate ventilation for a healthier indoor environment.
Using a Government developed software (Hot 2000) Green Savers (and all Auditing companies in ontario) are able to provide a detailed on-site assessment of your home’s energy use. This audit comprises the entire house from the attic to the basement. Once all the measurements are recorded and entered into Hot-2000 a detailed report is given to the customer. This includes a checklist of recommended retrofits to improve the energy efficiency of your home and, in some cases, to reduce your water consumption. The report will also show the ecoENERGY grant amount for each eligible upgrade you can receive by carrying out these energy saving improvements.
Visit Green Savers Here
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