Tankless Water Heaters - Advantages and Disadvantages

For those of you interested in the bottom line on tankless water heaters, here it is. The complete story follows this list.

Advantages:

• Definitely saves on natural gas - we use 50-75% less gas. As gas prices have increased, that is worth $14-22 per month.
• You never run out of hot water - if you take showers back-to-back (at the same time does not work so well - see the disadvantages)

Disadvantages (or at least things to consider):

• Installation is very expensive - probably as much as the unit. I recommend having someone local do it all, so you can get service when necessary.
• You can only heat so much water at once - usually 4-5 gpm depending on the temperature of the incoming water. This may be enough to run a shower and something else at the same time, but don't count on it.
• Electric units my require an upgrade to your electrical system (they take a lot of power). Natural gas units require large piping all the way to the unit.
• If you lose electricity, you lose hot water. Even the gas unit requires electricity to run the fan and controls.
• More moving parts means more things to go wrong (and fewer people around to work on them). It has certainly made me appreciate the simple tank water heaters.

The Story

My wife and I live in a 4-plex (all 1-bedroom units) that we own. We are fixing up & living in the bottom two while renting out the top two.

We bought it a little over a year ago, and the water heater was 25-30 years old (gotta love those Rheemglass Fury water heaters). It was also a 40-gallon water heater trying to serve 4 bathrooms while having the additional disadvantage of being seriously corroded by very hard water.

So we decided to take advantage of the tax credits that expired last year to put in a Takagi T-K3 tankless water heater - I figured we should spend about 1/2 as much on water heating, and have "endless" hot water. That is, we could take as many showers as we wanted back-to-back (not at the same time. The previous water heater lasted barely over one shower.

Of course, I searched on the internet for the best price I could find and bought one to install myself. Little did I know what I was getting into...

Installation Location

I had planned to install it in the same place the previous water heater had been - in the middle of the basement, venting into the chimney. After reading the manual (and talking to a plumber), I realized I could not vent it into the chimney unless I lined it or bought a special stainless steel vent to run all the way to the top. Considering this vent material cost about $20/foot, I quickly decided against that.

The plumber informed me that they are best installed on an exterior wall, with the special vent piping running straight up and out. Of course that would require about a 6" hole through the wood at the top of the basement wall. I did not really want to tackle that myself...

Installation Cost

I got a quote from the plumber to install it - $800-$900 including the vent materials. That's more than I paid for the heater!

I ended up spending almost $200 for the vent piping and $100-200 to cut the hole and install the sleeve through the wall. Add in some money for the additional 3/4" black gas piping we had to run, and there is probably $400 in materials. Plus my labor to install.

Definitely more work than I had planned on...

Operation

We had some immediate operational problems that took a long time to resolve. They ended up being my fault (mostly).

Do not install an "excess flow" or "safety" gas valve in the natural gas piping! These valves are designed to stop flow in the case of a hose breaking - when the flow rate gets too high. Guess what - at max burn on the water heater, the flowrate was too high, and the valve shut the gas off. Weeee! Cold water!

Once we resolved that, we dealt with really smelly exhaust (I could smell it on the other side of the house when the water heater was on). It ended up being an easy gas manifold pressure adjustment. Except for the fact that I had to buy an $85 digital manometer to make the adjustment.

After that, we had a continous fan noise. Tech support again walked me through what to do, and I found a piece of packing styrofoam in the fan. Not a huge deal, but annoying.

Most recently, we had a REALLY loud noise periodically (and eventually got an error code). Did I mention that the water heater stopped working late at night when I tenant was trying to shower? Again, weeee - cold water! Turned out this was because of dirty combustion (and incorrect manifold pressures). We still are not sure if it is because of the wrong pressures (and therefore bad combustion) or acidic condensate in the exhaust dripping back into the burner and heat exchanger. I guess we will find out...

Conclusions

Definitely know what you are getting into before switiching to a tankless water heater - I didn't.

If I were doing it all over again, I would get a unit from a local plumber and have him install it, or just get the 50-gallon tank water heater with the best insulation I could find.

It hasn't been bad to work on, but I like hands-on things. I also like now having the knowledge to fix a number of things on my own. At the same time, I like things to work the way they are supposed to.

I will keep you updated on any future issues with the unit. Otherwise, I am just looking forward to enjoying some natural gas savings!

What is your purpose?

What is my purpose? What am I here to do? I think most of us have have asked ourselves (or God) these questions at one time or another. I admittedly envy the people who have a great answer for this question...

Your Calling

One of the ideas that was rediscovered during the Reformation was the idea of "vocation" or "calling." You see - only those in the Roman Catholic Church had a calling - priests, monks, nuns, etc. were called by God, and everyone else was not.

But in truth we are each called (by God) to do the best we can in the various roles we have in life. Are you a father, mother, husband, wife, sister, brother, son, daughter, homemaker, employee, etc?

Each of these is a calling - something that we are called to do to the best of our ability.

How different would the world be if each of us tried to be the best husband, father, or employee we could be?

Would jobs be better if owners and bosses tried to be the best owner or boss they could? What if all employees were the best employees they could be?

Most people dislike their jobs or at least have many things they would rather be doing. It shouldn't be this way. That job is one of your callings - one of your vocations. You should do it to the best of your ability (even if you aspire to other things).

If you are the best employee you can be in your current role, do you think that improves your chaces of getting a better job down the road? I do. Even if your goal is (as mine was) to get away from being an employee, that's no excuse for being the best employee you can as long as you are in that vocation.

Confessions of a Dishonest Employee

OK - confession time for me:

I was not a perfect employee. Office supplies ended up at my house. I spent time on the clock taking care of personal business.

Of course, nearly everyone does this, so it's OK, right? Wrong? Stealing is stealing. Period. It took me being able to look at this situation from the outside to figure this out.

If your wife called and said your daughter needed a red pencil for a homework assignment - could you bring one from the office, what do you do?

Now imagine that the office supplies are sold in a store at your office - the pencil is $0.10 and the petty cash box is open with noone around. Would you take a dime and use it to buy a red pencil?

The situations are effectively the same, but most people answer those two questions differently (I know I used to).

I was looking at accepting a job offer recently, and I realized a lot of the things I had done wrong in my last job, and I was thinking about how to avoid them in my new job. Would I have been perfect? No. But I like to think that I would have been a lot better and thought about my actions more thoroughly.

Vocation and Family

I really think we have lost the idea of vocation in the family.

Never before have men been so quick to abandon their roles as husband and father.

Never before have women been so quick to abandon their callings as wife and mother.

We have not taken our family vocations seriously, and this cannot help but spread outside the home as well.

To overgeneralize:

• Kids have a lot less respect for their parents than they used to.
• Husbands and wives have a lot less repect for their roles (and marriage in general) than they used to.
• CEOs have less repect for their employees than they used to.
• Employees have less respect for their bosses than they used to.

I fear that "pride in your work" and "doing your best" has been replaced with "what's in it for me" and "it's my right".

Instead of maximizing what we get, we should be maximizing what we give. The rewards follow (or maybe they don't - but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it).

Most things I have done in my life were done selfishly. I need to start doing more for others - taking others into account in my decisions.

And not pretending like I am doing things for others by stealing a red pencil for my daughter either...

So, What's Your Point?

That's a great question - I guess I want each of us to take more pride in our various roles in life. I know I need to do this - especially in my role as husband and son (no kids yet).

And I'm not sure everyone thinks about this. I didn't think about it much until recently, and I don't think many of us do.

These little (or big) actions slide under the radar of our conscience:

• Got too much change back at Albertson's and didn't say anything? Congratulations you stole from Albertson's. (Though if you are like me you are quick to go to customer service if you are shorted change!)
• Put 5-1/2 gallons in your "5-gallon" water refill? Congratulations - you stole water from Wal-mart. (Ask me how I know about this one - just figured that out a few weeks ago!)
• Live with your giflfriend before marriage? "Everyone does it." Increasingly true but still adultery.
• Gossip about someone at work? Congratulations - you just broke the 8th Commandment (the one we never talk about).

We need to take our actions seriously. Everyone else (including God) does.

Your True Purpose

Your purpose is to perform your best in the roles you are already in.

Even if you are meant to do bigger and better things down the road, that does not excuse you from doing the best you can now.

I think we all know people that never became great in the eyes of the world but had a profound impact on many people simply by being the best mother, teacher, grandmother, or friend that they could. Always ready with a smile and a helping hand...

If each of us could be like that in each of our callings, I like to think that the world would be a much better place.

Our Gas Saving Electric Scooter!

I apologize for the delay in following up on my last post, but it took a little work to get the right price on our new toy:

This is the XB-508 electric scooter made (or at least marketed by) Xtreme Scooters, a plug-in "electric bicycle".

We got it for my wife to commute to & from her work (about 2 miles away). Although it only goes 20-25 mph (depending on wind and how many people are riding it), the highest speed limit on her way to work is only 30 mph.

We wanted something that could get her to & from work without her having to get all sweaty on a bicycle, and we figured with plug-in cars on the horizon, someone has to make an electric scooter.

Apparently, they do! Xtreme Scooters seemed to have the most economical choices for what we were looking for - light duty around town. Other scooters are more powerful (closer to motorcycles) and much more expensive.

The best price we found for the model we wanted (actually the XB-500) was at Earth Scooters, but I could not get a hold of anyone there by phone, so I wasn't comfortable paying them online. The best price we found was about $725 for a new one.

We ended up paying $600 for the next model up (barely used) on Craigslist. If you use the IRS mileage rates, this represents about a 30% annual return on investment with our limited usage, even with electricity cost (which should be less than $0.005 - half of a cent - per mile).

This thing is awesome for getting around town. You can put up to two people on it (though 300 pounds is the recommended weight limit), and it has several storage compartments. It is really quiet, and it is nice to have pedals "just in case" - the pedals are not ergonomically friendly, and I would not want to use them very much!

If you are looking for a way to save money on gas around town, consider an electric scooter. Prices have gone up significantly because of increased demand, so looking at places like Craigslist are good alternatives.

One important caveat:

Make sure you know the requirements of your city/county/state for such devices. In Kansas, this cannot be tagged because it doesn't have a license, so it is up to the municipality to determine if they allow it on their roads. I have heard of a nearby town that does not, and someone who had already bought one was out of luck.

Saving Money on Gas - Gas Rebate Credit Cards

Due to the popularity of the "Improving Gas Mileage" series, I wanted to touch on a couple of other things you can do to decrease your gasoline (or diesel) expenditures.

Today we are focusing on Gas Rebate Credit Cards.

There are a number out there that have special deals on gasoline purchases (which also apply to diesel, I am pretty sure). For a great summary of the available deals, check out:

http://www.creditcardwatcher.com/gascards/

I'd like to highlight a couple in particular because they fit very nicely with my previous post improving gas mileage with TOP TIER fuel.


TOP TIER Gasoline Rebate Cards

Shell Platinum Mastercard - 5% at Shell stations, 1% elsewhere

The Shell Platinum Mastercard (issued by Citibank) gives you a 5% rebate on Shell gasoline purchases. One catch we noted when we signed up is that there is an annual fee if you don't use it at Shell at least 9 times per year. For us that shouldn't be a problem. For more info, click here.

ConocoPhillips Credit Card - 4% at Conoco/Phillips66/76 stations

The ConocoPhillips credit card (also issued by Citibank) gives you a 4% rebate on Conoco, Phillips66, and 76 gasoline purchases, up to $50 per month. You can check it out here.

The ConocoPhillips card has a promotion right now for 10% back for 90 days, but they cap the total rebate at $35 over the 90-day period. This may be a good deal if you don't use much gas, but if you lose a lot, you could end up getting less than with the 4% rebate. Click here for the promotion page.

Now, if you've had some bad experiences with credit cards (and if you've had one, who hasn't), you might not be willing to go this route. I encourage you NOT to get one of these cards just to save money if you (being a stronger person than I) have completely sworn of credit cards or the like. 4 or 5% back on gas is not worth a financial crisis down the road :)

Very soon (hopefully) I will be talking about an upcoming purchase we are going to make to save gas...