January 24th 2012
The use of Tank-less Hot Water Heaters
Tank-less, or on-demand, Hot Water Heaters have been popular in Europe and Japan for years. And they are starting to attract more attention in North America. Tank-less heaters are small wall-mounted units that can be fueled by gas or electricity, producing hot water only on demand. When a hot water faucet is turned on, cold water begins to flow through heated coils on the unit heating the water to the preset temperature you chose.
When they were first introduced many years ago, very few builders or homeowners were interested as a result of their relatively high price and potential reliability issues. However, with the ongoing rise of fuel costs and the better redesign of these units to eliminate reliability issues, a renewed interest has been seen in new construction. The primary benefits advertized are their energy efficiency, limited space requirements, and ability to supply hot water whenever needed.
And although these units will supply hot water on demand, they were not originally designed for high water volume output.