My wife and I purchased a home this year that is 94" in length. I installed a new 50gal water heater in the laundry room which is in the opposite end of house from the batahing areas. (It was where the original wsa installed.) My question is, since I am lossing money on water being wasted (the water running throught the faucets until hot water arrives at the point of use) could a small water be installed in series with the main water heater only closer to the points of use? I have plenty of room to install a small 10gal or 20gal tank in my crawl space near my bathing areas. That way, I thought I would get hot water more quickly, actually reduce my water bill and although I will be increasing my electric bill to a degree, I might be actually saving in the long run.

I look forward to your advise!
Thanks!
:O)
Tom

dherman1

The Gas Fired tankless water heaters are wonderful. However, they require a large amount of gas to them. Some are over 200,000 BTU's.

We looked into them as we are building an addition on our home that will include an enlarged master bathroom with a whirlpoot tub. The plumber said that a tankless water heater would work but, we would need to replumb all of our gas appliances as the type of gas supply we have wouldn't feed all that we wanted to do. I guess we have a low pressure supply system.

The plumber recommended that we install a recirculating line instead. It is plumbed into the hot water pipe at the tub and runs back to the hot water heaters flush out valve. The plumber said that we probably wont need to pump it as it will act as a close convection loop. (Hot water is lighter so it rises and as it cools off, it will get heavier and then drop back down the line to the HWH. )

Another alternative is to use an electric point of use hot water heater. (COSTCO has one, here is the link to it http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...114*1240*4311*
Good luck, Dan

TKP

I just wanted to say "THANKS" to everyone that responded to my question! I received some helpful replies and ideas. I appreciate those of you that shared either your wisdom and/or your experience.
:O)
Tom