Hot Water Heaters

Good answer.

Elements will probably outlast the tank!

Hello, The one thing I can think of would be the water would take a long time to heat up and the temp relays may or may not open if the water did not reach the proper temp. So the unit would run all the time and not cycle like it should.

If power conservation is what your trying to do I would suggest a timer on the water heater to turn on say about an hour before work and turn off around closing time so if someone was late out they would have hot water for some time after. Also I would look into adding insulation to the outside to help hold the heat a little longer.

Charles

thanks to all for the input.

If the water is hot "hot water heater" why do you need to heat it?

I am in the final stages of installing a propane powered tank-less heater. These units provide instantaneous hot water and turn themselves off the moment the water stops flowing.

I bought mine at eBay for about $250 and it's said to deliver 160 degree water at the rate of 3 gallons per minute.

It can be used at a campsite with a small propane jug like used with barbeque's and fed with a garden hose. Ignition is piezoelectric and two D cell batteries.

I actually plumbed mine directly into the domestic hot water system in my home and feed it propane from the same large bottle that provides gas for cooking and clothes drying.

One feature I like is that this unit will function even if the area I live in has a total power blackout.

You can purchase units with lower capacity and for less money powered by gas or electricity. The key is to go Tank Less. Yours will waste a lot of electricity generating hot water that will likely rarely get used.

venting a new gas unit is still more expensive than wiring in a free lectric one.

.. for the first couple thousand cycles he should remain in the green.

.. I'd love a review on that $250 unit LJ

low price.. btu info?

"venting a new gas unit is still more expensive than wiring in a free electric one."

That was not the case with mine.

I simply removed the existing flu pipe from my furnace, added an angled coupler and connected the tank-less heater to the existing chimney.

The purpose of installing this system is so I can dial back the aquastat on the oil fired boiler which supplies heat in the winter as well as domestic hot water all year.

It makes no sense for that boiler to be kept that hot all the time, all summer long just to supply domestic hot water a few times in a 24 day.

With the tank-less unit, the main boiler is not shut down completely but the operating temperature is now very low and stays low, even when doing laundry or taking baths.

Oddly enough, this method promises to save heating oil in the winter too. The boiler will no longer be started during the day just to supply heat for the domestic water that won't be used in an empty house.

I'll send picks when I return from vacation. I'll do a review as well.

L.J.

I agree about heating water 24/7 . Since I packed my water heater tight with insulation I have been able to heat the water for about 6 hours then turn it off for a couple of days and even longer if I have to be away from home.

I could not belive how long water will retain the heat. It took some effort to make sure to use cold water more at the sinks. Seems we had a habit of using warm water for everything.

As my plumbing friends have asked me.

HOT WATER HEATERS? If the water is already hot why are we heating it?

I believe the answer you are seeking is "YES" to connection them in parallel, provided you have even numbers of heaters and that they were connected, 2 in series across 240 volts......

If you are an electrician, then it should be easy to set up, if not, get someone who is better qualified to look over your shoulder!!!

Electricity is normally sold in the kWhr. So, by using a typical 4500W/240V heater element lets say it takes 1/2 hour to heat up the water and shut off. You used only 2.25 kWhr. If you hook this same element to 120V it would run at 1125W. The time it would take to heat up the water would drastically increase maybe to the point like one person posted that it would never shut off. But lets say it takes 4 hours to heat up the water. You used 4.5 kWhr. So, by hooking up to 120V would cost you more in the long run instead of saving you on your electricity bill. I would leave it hooked up to with 240V but just turn the temp down to the lowest setting and like another person posted insulate your take so the water will stay warmer longer.

I have done it when I could not get a 120V heater element. It worked. I used an element that was just over twice the wattage of the original. It was the largest element I could get that fit the hole. I never replaced it again.

I left that job after about another year but we had been replacing those elements in the little heater every few months. The voltage back in the warehouse was over 130VAC for some reason. That may have been the reason for the short element life.

TT3

If 120 v elements are used in series on a 240 v circuit, the voltage division will not be exactly equal unless the resistances are matched. Any mismatch of more than 10% may reduce the life of the heater with lesser resistance.

You got it backwards, wasn't it a 240 volt heater on 120 volts?

Read the OPs original question again!!!

Have a great day!!