In-line water heaters.

[Triple]

Anyone use them?

I'm about to start a major plumbing overall in my cabin and I'm considering ditching the old tank-style water heater in favor of one or more in-line heaters.

They are supposed to be more efficient since they only heat the water as needed (instead of keeping a giant tank of water hot all the time), but I'm wondering how they'll handle the accumulating sediment of well water.

[derf]

I use it now and I love it, hot water on demand whenever you want it, and it never runs out. The only down side is that, at least in my house the master bath is on the complete opposite side of the house from the heater so that bathroom takes a minute to get hot water, I usually turn on the shower brush my teeth then jump in the shower. But the other full bath has hot water within 5 seconds, same with the kitchen, wash room, and half bath. I really think that the water pipes just travel all over the house and it takes a solid minute for how water.

But again, it never runs out. The most hot water I've used at one time was 4 showers 2 at the same time in 2 bathrooms followed by another 2, then 2 full baths at the same time. that was probably 300 gallons of hot water in 1/2 hour and it never did flinch.

My heater, even though its on city water has a catch cleanout that I can open up to clean out any gunk. The instructions say to do it every 4 months for well water, and every year for city water.

[Captain Morgan]

Thought about buying one when my water heater sprung a leak a few months ago, but decided to pass. Main reason was due to the reviews I read on the cheaper models. Didn't have the money to drop on the more expensive models. From what I understand, you need to make sure you have good water flow, but it depends on the model. Some won't work with less than 2.5gallons per minute, others work down to 1.5, but require 2.5 gal to get the heater started. Lots of complaints about the heater stopping because water flow reduced. Most of those complaints seemed to originate because of old plumbing. Also, as derf pointed out, proximity to the fixture being used has an effect. Not sure how big your cabin is, so that may not be an issue. Do some online searches on Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc. and read the reviews of the units prior to making a purchase decision. Good luck.

[derf]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

Thought about buying one when my water heater sprung a leak a few months ago, but decided to pass. Main reason was due to the reviews I read on the cheaper models. Didn't have the money to drop on the more expensive models. From what I understand, you need to make sure you have good water flow, but it depends on the model. Some won't work with less than 2.5gallons per minute, others work down to 1.5, but require 2.5 gal to get the heater started. Lots of complaints about the heater stopping because water flow reduced. Most of those complaints seemed to originate because of old plumbing. Also, as derf pointed out, proximity to the fixture being used has an effect. Not sure how big your cabin is, so that may not be an issue. Do some online searches on Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc. and read the reviews of the units prior to making a purchase decision. Good luck.

Its only a problem in the first few minutes, and thats just getting out all the water that has been sitting in the pipes since the last time you used it. Once it runs for a minute its fine.

I also had the low water flow problem, but I have all low flow water efficient shower heads. I was a crazy problem because sometimes it would work fine, others it would switch to cold after a few minutes, and other time it would just be straight cold. Finally I realized that if the sink was running hot water the shower would pump hot water consistantly. Then someone mentioned that I probably have low flow shower heads, and sure enough change out the shower heads and poof, problem gone

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Triple

Anyone use them?

I'm about to start a major plumbing overall in my cabin and I'm considering ditching the old tank-style water heater in favor of one or more in-line heaters.

They are supposed to be more efficient since they only heat the water as needed (instead of keeping a giant tank of water hot all the time), but I'm wondering how they'll handle the accumulating sediment of well water.

They aren't install and forget, like many people treat their old tank unit. You'll need an annual service, especially when dealing with hard water, and a filter system wouldn't be a bad idea.

[shmike]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

They aren't install and forget, like many people treat their old tank unit. You'll need an annual service, especially when dealing with hard water, and a filter system wouldn't be a bad idea.

Yep.

Aquapython on here is on his 3rd or 4th unit in as many years due to crap clogging it up.

[Tmall]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

They aren't install and forget, like many people treat their old tank unit. You'll need an annual service, especially when dealing with hard water, and a filter system wouldn't be a bad idea.

This as well, I can't get to the filter in mine. The previous owner must never have cleaned it, because the brass cover will NOT budge on mine. I have to cut the line coming into it, pull that piece out of the heater and replace it, and reinstall the supply line.

If you don't care about price so much, you can get an oil fired water heater. I had one in my previous house and I could not run out of hot water, I tried and failed.

[tallywacker]

They are badass and save you money.

[Avatard]

Most units at full bore can only raise the temp 40 degrees. At less than "WOT", with the water moving through more slowly, it can get hotter.

In other words, potential max temperature is in inverse proportion to flow rate.

Or in yet other words; get the biggest fucking unit you can get, if you want the fucking shit to actually get fucking hot.

In the real world, running two "house sized" units in parallel can actually get you close to the performance of a tank heater.

One unit, unless the house is for a young couple, with only 1.5 baths, probably won't cut it.

[AquaPython]

yes i have had mine replaced a few times, but the problem has been figured out now, we hope. Florida water is very hard because of all the limestone, if you have any calcium in the water you need a prefilter, or it will sediment on the metal prong style thermometer, causing temp mis-reading, and making the computer shut it down for safety. I replumbed it to have a High quality "sand" prefilter that can be easily cleaned every three months. no problems thus far. I recommend tankless heaters for less energy bills, and also cleaner water. Tanks accumulate a Zoo of non-photosynthetic bacteria and fungus that you shower yourself with.