Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Posts tagged gallons per minute
Microwave Tankless Water Heaters….
May 11th
Microwave Tankless
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Giant microwaves to heat water instantly? Is this real? And can it actually work?
A microwave (like in a microwave oven) is generated by a magnetron at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz, this is the 
exact frequency that targets water molecules and gets them vibrating faster and faster, thus heating up.
The principal behind a microwave tankless water heater is basically the same as your microwave oven at home just on a larger scale. Cold water will simply pass through the unit where it will be bombarded by microwaves actively exciting the molecules to the required temperature. The warm or hot water will then pass through the pluming system to the source of demand.
Effectively this is making hot water produced by electricity actually a reality. There are electric tankless water heaters, sure, but they require massive amounts of power and don’t reliably produce enough water to supply a modern home. Wanderport, a manufacturer of these systems is claiming upwards of 6-7 gallons per minute which is directly on par with conventional tankless systems.
What’s potentially so great about these systems?
First off there is no venting needed, no holes in the walls, no venting proximity restrictions; these are huge barriers that gas or propane tankless systems face. On that same note, the conventional tankless systems sometimes require home owners to upgrade supply lines as units can consume upwards of 199,000 Btu’s.
Secondly a microwave unit has an efficiency of 99% and emits no pollution. The unit also doesn’t degrade over time as a conventional tankless does with calcium deposits and buildups in the various heat exchangers that they need.
So what’s the chances of you getting a microwave water heater in your home in the near future?
According to Wanderport, quite realistic. In fact they have a product on the verge of being released. Its already won an advanced technology award from the
Toronto Construction Association.
Check out the future of water heating here.
Rheem Tankless water heaters
Feb 18th
Rheem Tankless water heaters
Follow this company back and it is basically leads you to the founder of the modern day water heater “Edwin Ruud”. There is definitely a lot of history here and the company has several locations throughout the world. Rheem is the largest manufacturer of water heating units in North America. Rheem has a number of residential tankless hot water units to suit the various home water demands
Rheem RTG2-42
This system is rated at 4.2 gallons with a 45 degree Fahrenheit temperature rise, it would best suited for smaller applications. Rheem suggests that this tankless be installed in homes with only one bathroom.
View Specifications Sheet – Click HERE
Rheem RTG-53 Series
There are 3 tankless systems in the 53 series but they’re all able to provide the same amount of hot water. Should you have a 45 Fahrenheit temperature rise this tankless would provide 5.3 gallons of hot water per minute. The difference in the three systems is the way they are vented; indoor direct vent, outdoor, and indoor power vent.
View Specifications Sheet – Click HERE
Rheem RTG-66 Series
There are 2 tankless systems in the 66 series, you can select either an outdoor model or the indoor direct vent. This tankless hot water heater is able to provide 6.6 gallons per minute at the standard 45 degree Fahrenheit temperature rise. This a new tankless series introduced by Rheem, they recommend these units for 2-3 bathroom homes.
View Specifications Sheet for the Rheem RTG-66 tankless – Click HERE
Rheem RTGL-74 Series
This series of tankless water heaters is recommended for homes with three plus bathrooms. There are 3 different venting options and thus 3 different models. The 74 series tankless can provide 7.4 gallons per minute of hot water with the 45 degree Fahrenheit temperature rise.
View Specifications Sheet for the Rheem RTGL-74 tankless – Click HERE
Notes
All of the aforementioned models can be equipped with up to 3 remote temperature controllers enabling you to change water temperature from any room.
These units are also expandable; Rheem offers what they call an easy link cable enabling two units to be connected together doubling the amount of hot water produced.
Rheem also has several commercial Tankless water heaters but that’s for another post.
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.
