• janNatan
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    8 months ago

    I just learned these are a thing. Probably more energy Efficient thank keeping a warm tank of water in your house, I’m guessing?

    • Addv4@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Pretty much, plus you don’t have to worry about running out of hot water. They’re pretty nice, and surprisingly simple to install.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They’re both good and bad. If you have older pipes that are narrower than modern pipes it can take a few minutes for the water to become hot. My parents live in a hundred year old house and installed one, it’s nice once it finally warms up, but it can take a good few minutes. During the winter the water is ice cold and takes even longer to warm up.

      They are disappointed with it, but they had already sunk like $5,000-$6500 USD on it.

    • Sal@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I can be. If you have a tank water heater it can be set up where it is off for most of the day but it will keep the water in the tank hot.

    • cynar@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They are quite common in the UK, and have been the default for a couple of decades now. They are definitely more efficient, compared to a tank, as well as taking up far less space. You just need to make sure the model you choose can keep up with the demand. Nothing worse than a tepid shower.

      The only situation I can see them being worse is with solar. If you have solar panels then dumping excess power into the water heater is a great way to not waste it. With a combi boiler, that is no longer an option.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      It’s actually less energy efficient since it has to heat the water right then and there whereas a tank is insulated and builds on the heated water that’s already in there. But the trade off of basically infinite hot water and a smaller footprint is so worth it.

      • rooster_butt@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        It’s more efficient because there is no heat loss thst a tank suffers from even if it’s insulated. It takes the same amount of energy to heat up water b N degrees. Doesn’t matter how fast you do it. The real drawback is that it requires a much larger breaker and will likely need to run new wires. It may be an issue with your electrical if your panel doesn’t have enough leeway.

        • ramble81@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          That makes sense. As for the breaker if you’re using gas it actually runs on a standard 15-amp circuit (I have one), but it does require a potentially larger gas inlet which can be costly too, and you need a 4” exhaust which may require some retrofitting too.