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Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Posts tagged Gallons
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.
GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater
May 11th
GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater
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Heating water for showers, laundry, dishwashers and other household needs can account for up to 25 percent of a home’s total energy cost. General Electric hopes that they figured out a way to persuade
homeowners to upgrade from a conventional electric storage-tank water heater to its new heat-pump water heater, expected out in the fourth quarter of 2009. A heat-pump water heater is quite common in Japan, but GE’s 50-gallon Hybrid Electric Water Heater represents the only U.S. version from a major manufacturer. This is an electric conventional style tank that holds between 40 and 60 gallons.
This heat-pump technology being used works be allowing heat to transfer from the air to the water stored in the insulated tank. (The conventional style tank will also retain some traditional electrical heating elements, which will kick in when needed.) GE claims this new water heater will use 2,300 kilowatt hours annually, about half that of a standard electric water heater. Those savings could help defray its cost, which at $1,200 to $1,500 American is higher than purchasing a conventional tank.
Realistically if you have gas or propane service at your home it would be much more efficient and cost effective to go with the new tankless water heaters that are available. Additionally since the unit is absorbing heat from the surrounding air it has to give off cool air which in Toronto and surrounding area means that your furnace will have to then work to heat that new cool air.
This may be an interesting product for any cottages or homes with electrical service only.
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.
Takagi Tankless Condensing Unit
Feb 9th
Takagi Tankless Condensing Unit
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The Takagi Flash T-H1 tankless water heater is a new condensing unit available to house hold consumers. 
This tankless heater has an average efficiency of 95% with propane as its fuel source and 92% when natural gas is used. In our Canadian climate you can expect about 4 plus gallons per minute in the dead of winter, and much more in the summer when ground water is warmer.
The Flash T-H1 is able to provide about 3 simultaneous showers when ground water is at or below 40 Fahrenheit. This tankless is unique in that it has two heat exchangers which enable the water passing through to absorb much (90 to 97 percent of it) of the heat generated from combustion. The stainless steel secondary heat exchanger has been added to collect waste heat from the units vent stack and divert it to pre-heating the incoming water. This secondary exchanger causes some condensation that is slightly acidic, Takagi has included a collector and a built in neutralizer that allows the drainage to be plumbed into your standard drainpipe.
This tankless water heater employs a variable gas input which allows the unit to produce only the amount of heat necessary to warm the water to a household’s desired temperature. At a maximum this tankless can produce 199,000 BTU’s per hour and in ideal conditions provide 10 gallons of hot water per minute.
There is a downside, the Takagi condensing tankless water heater is quite expensive, but it is one of the higher end units with a very high efficiency rating. Also unless you buy the Takagi temperature controller you are limited to only 4 preset temperatures, 113 F, 122 F, 140 F, and 182 F.
This is a very interesting system but we havent had any direct hands on experience to draw on yet. We should be getting a trial system soon at which point we will provide a new update and evaluation.
Navien Tankless Water Tank
Feb 4th
Navien Tankless Water Tank
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Firstly let’s get this straight; Navien is a brand of tankless hot water heater not Navian.I have seen this 
spelled wrong many times, Navian (I googled it) is nothing, definitely not a tankless water heater.
Navien has 6 residential models (CR-180, CR-210, CR-240, CR-180A, CR-210A, CR-240A) and then 3 commercial units (CC-180, CC-210, CC-240). These tankless water heaters are all relatively similarly designed but as you go up in model number you increase the amount of hot water the tankless unit can provide.Here is a quick list of each units performance.
- CR-180 and 180A are able to provide roughly 3.8 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise.
- CR-210 and 210A are able to provide roughly 4.5 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise
- CR-240 and 240A are able to provide roughly 5 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise
We should definitely look at the efficiency of the Navien tankless water heater which is currently the only condensing unit on the market.This extra step gives Navien the efficiency title, currently rated at 98%, therefore 98 cents of every dollar spent on heating your water is actually turned into hot water.This is an amazing number as most tankless water heaters are 10% to 15% less efficient. Of course being the first on the block has its issues, the Navien tankless water heater is facing some problems from rubber hoses becoming blocked. This has been reported numerous time in several forums around the internet.
The good thing is that most of the other Tankless water heater manufactures are working on their own form of tankless condensing units.This should give the consumer a good choice in high efficiency water heating.
CR-180, CR-180A……Specifications Sheet
CR-210, CR-210A…… Specifications Sheet
CR-240, CR-240A…….Specifications Sheet
Navien UPDATE-2010
This write up was done in February of 2009 so its been over a year now and there are a number of alternate condensing tankless water heaters available now. Navien was the first on the block and realistically you cant beat the price of the unit, even today its still lower than all condensing tankless units. Sure there has been some issues regarding the system but thats to be expected from a new technology (we will be authoring a new post on all these problems and their fix, check back soon).
Navien problems and the Fix – Click here to read
If your interested in a Navien tankless water heater fill out the form below and we will contact you, there’s no obligation and at the very least you will be more informed on whether a tankless is right for you or not.
Navien UPDATE – Feb 2012
Navien has spent a lot of time reworking their tankless water heaters and removing all the bugs and issues that have plagued them in the past. I feel more than confident in 2012 to recommend their new tankless water heaters.
Call Toll Free 1-855-696-8265 for any questions, issues, or for Navien prices. Otherwise feel free to send us a quick message with the form below.
Tankless Sizing – Total GPM
Dec 4th
Buying a tankless system can be a tricky task as there is a number of different units on the market today. In addition you need to take into account numerous different factors to determine the correct sizing and venting.
You will first want to figure out what the total GPM that you need supplied at your house, do this to calculate the total.
If your showerhead is relatively new, the gallons-per-minute consumption rating is inscribed somewhere on the outside of the fixture. If it’s not, do this quick test.
Hold a 1-gallon container under a faucet or fixture and time how many seconds it takes to fill the container with the faucet opened all the way. Then divide 60 by the number of seconds it took to fill the container. For example, a fixture that filled the container in 30 seconds would be rated at 2 gpm.
While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to clean any screens in the fixtures of any scale deposit.
The maximum gpm rating your water heater needs depends on how many fixtures and appliances will be drawing hot water at the same time. Add up the gpm of your fixtures and then check off the fixtures and appliances that will be in use simultaneously. This should provide you with the Total Gallons per Minute that a tankless will need to provide.
Now the last thing to consider is your location, if you are in the southern US the incoming water supply will be much warmer than in the dead of winter in southern Ontario. This plays a significant factor as the tankless unit needs to heat the water almost twice the amount, inturn reducing the output. A tankless rated at 6.8 gpm may only be able to produce 4.8 when it has to heat the water from 38 Fahrenheit instead of 64.
Of course if this is too complicated you can always have a professional come out for a free quote and have them size one out for you. Click here if you are interested.
