Installing A Tankless Water Heater

Installing An Electric Tankless Water Heater

The most common self-installed water heater is the electric, since, aside from the power issue this can be a very straightforward job. So let’s talk about that for a minute. Tankless water heaters are very hungry, which means whatever model you pick, natural gas, propane or electricity, it takes a lot of fuel to make the world go around.

This works to your advantage because hot water is only generated on demand so the efficiency factor is much higher for tankless water heaters.

Generally electric tankless heater draw from 80-amps to 180-amps of electrical power, some are even larger. The standard residential breaker panel is usually 200-amps. Some homes may have multiple panels or sub panels. If this is your situation then you shouldn’t have a problem. The best thing is to be sure by asking a professional. In my case there was an unused panel just waiting. Once you are satisfied that you have the power capacity to supply your heater, you are ready to begin. Or almost, you should be aware of any local codes and follow them to ensure a safe installation.

One other thing I’d like to point out is that tankless water heaters are rated on the ability to produce a set amount (gallons per minute) at a given temperature increase.

As an example: if the heater you’ve chosen is rated to deliver 3 gpm while raising the temperature 50 F degrees you may have what you need for summer months.

But what about winter? Is water coming into you house close to 40 F degrees? If so the temperature rise will be 70-80 F degrees and this will probably make the flow rate drop down to 1-½ gpm. There is a little math to this project.

An electric tankless water heater is not an ideal solution but it is pretty close.

The big factors are how much hot water do you need during peak usage, where do you live geographically and let’s not forget the rate your utility company charges. I am fortunate to live in an area where gas and electric are about the same price, making electric an easy choice.

So now I guess you are ready to start. Since this demo can’t answer all your questions, I suggest you invest in a good how-to book that can be your back-up when you run into something like a breaker panel that looks very different from the one shown here, or if you choose to use the solder and flux method of joining pipes.