The Water Heater – Part Two

The Water Heater – Part Two was Originally Posted on April 2, 2007 by

I need to publish a follow-up on the on-demand heater I posted in my last blog.

I carefully considered the unit and did my homework, but in the end I replaced the old tank with a similar but larger unit.

I believe that a tankless system would have been better, but I ran into a few issues. On the plus side, installation would have been simple in that it just mounts to the wall and I already had flexible water pipes in place. I had easy access to the ceiling and the breaker box and could have run wires easily.

The existing water heater wad a single 20 amp wire in the wall. The new system required two 30-amp circuits. That would require me running 2 cables 40 feet each. Not difficult but it adds to the cost and the time involved.

Because the heater is not within view of the main circuit breaker box, I would need to add a small breaker box (or cutoff) near the new heater. Not extremely expensive, but more parts and cost and time.

For the two new wires I would need one more breaker in the main box, which I didn’t have available. I would need to remove either an unused set of outlets in the house, or rewire a breaker to handle more outlets. Although I know how to do this (I used to work for an electrician), it really should all be done by a licensed electrician.

Not having the proper tools, having to run back and forth to buy more equipment and the thought of being without hot water all that time, all led to me just replacing the current unit. The new one was about $230 and was pretty efficient.

I still would consider replacing a regular hot water heater with a tankless one, but next time I will be better prepared.