by Gennevie Landherr

Created on: June 29, 2007

Wouldn't it be great if you could have hot water anytime you need it? And wouldn't be nice to be able to take run your dish washer and do a load of laundry without having to wait an hour to have enough water to take a nice hot shower? Could you use a little extra space to store your vacuum cleaner, mop, broom etc? How would you feel if you could have all these conveniences, and save money at the same time?

Tankless water heaters (a.k.a Point of Use or on Demand)give us all these things. Many people have never heard of TWH here in the states, but just in case you are like me in being distrustful of any new "miracle" technology, then rest easy with the knowledge that the handy little gadgets have been used in Europe for quite some time. This being said, you might wonder how exactly TWH work, and how they could possibly do what is claimed.
TWH give endless quantities of hot water for the same reason they save space. THERE IS NO STORAGE TANK! This is also the reason they are great energy savers as well. (A unit that can service a 4 bathroom household is only about twenty five pounds and will measure about 1'x1.5'x 0.5'. That is roughly the size of mid-sized briefcase!) When you turn on the water faucet marked "H"(or washer, shower, etc), the water first passes through the TWH unit. The unit heats the water to your (preset) specifications and then sends it on its merry way to you. Since it only heats water as you need it, the TWH eliminates the need for a storage tank.
This need for the hulking tank is why your old standby water heater is so inefficient. Because the tanked water heaters are trying to keep x gallons of water at your desired temperature, the water heater is constantly turning itself on and off to do so (much like central heating and air does to keep your home at whatever temp you set the thermostat to.) Not so with TWH, because they only run when you need hot water. Because of this you are not losing ambient heat, the way you do with the standard unit, thus eliminating even more energy loss. In fact TWH are up to 50% more energy efficient. This can save you 15% or more every month on your electric or gas bill.
There is much to be said for tankless water heater's ability to save us money and space. And many of us would certainly love to be able to have hot water in whatever amount we need. But if this is not enough to get you to buy one of the miraculous little things, then here are some useful little tid-bits that may help you decide. Where the standard

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