Tankless Heater for in-floor hydronic heat

[David Meiland]

The highest energy factors for electric water heaters are .95 - .96. There's always jacket loss.

Jacket loss within the conditioned envelope isn't loss, it's radiation- refrigerators and incandescent lighting are both near 100% efficient throughout the heating season.

Correct, but in an electric water heater, 100% of the energy does not go to heating the water. If it did, it would be 100% efficient.

[Tom Raymond]

Just leave the refrigerator door open........all the extra heat from non-stop operation keeps the house warm.

And my beer. Gotta be a better way.

[Greg Booth]

Correct, but in an electric water heater, 100% of the energy does not go to heating the water. If it did, it would be 100% efficient.

Sure-some of the juice is used to keep the little interior light on []

[MPdesign]

For tankless just keep in mind that a family of four with a standard hot water heater will normally take short showers because they run out of hot water.

Give the same family an endless supply and the 5 minute average US shower becomes 10+.

Make sure the shower heads are all low flow (I have one nd they do work great and I do not miss OLD STYLE) and that will help also.

Conclusion: More efficient - Yes (especially if installed near primary point of use - losses traversing cold piping is horrible)

A savings - NOT in many households (per informal study of those who added them in my office).