Electric Tankless Water Heating - thoughts.....

becks92

Ongoing saga of what we use to heat our water.

History - we have a huge old copper immersion heater that we are getting rid of in favour of something more efficient and takes up less space and we are redoing our bathroom.

We have been suggested to go for a tankless water heater. For our shower we are having an electric one, one from Mira 9.8kw so should be decent throughput. The only thing the water heater of choice will have to heat is kitchen and bathroom sink and the odd bath. At a later date maybe underfloor heating downstairs....

Apparently these are big in the states but not so much here so was wondering if anyone here has come across them and if they are any cop.

Is there a huge delay when turning a tap on?
Are they efficient?
Are they cheap to run compared to normal water heating methods?

Cheers guys

Becky

1984ReturnsForReal_2

What are you heating your house with in the meantime after you install these "heaters"?

macman

All electric heating is 100% efficient, but none of it is cheap to run I'm afraid-any other method will be cheaper (gas, oil, LPG). If your existing immersion is properly lagged, then there is no reason why it is not as efficient as any other system.

devotee

I had something like this in my old flat: http://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Stiebel-Eltron-Instantaneous-Water-Heater-pr-33373.html

Can't fault it really. If you are limited in your options (no gas, don't want tank) then it's great. I got rid of the tank and got a huge cupboard instead as the heater is small and you install it and forget all about it as it's quiet and it needs no maintenance.

The delay is similar to gas combi. And you pay for the actual use. Think ours was 12kw and we got ok pressure, similar to what we have now with combi boiler, not exactly a power shower pressure but decent enough.

And don't know about electricity prices, I didn't notice much change in my bills from before.

The only problem I had is finding someone to install it who knew about them, and also a limited choice of them available on the market.

HappyMJ

becks92 wrote: »

Ongoing saga of what we use to heat our water.

History - we have a huge old copper immersion heater that we are getting rid of in favour of something more efficient and takes up less space and we are redoing our bathroom.

We have been suggested to go for a tankless water heater. For our shower we are having an electric one, one from Mira 9.8kw so should be decent throughput. The only thing the water heater of choice will have to heat is kitchen and bathroom sink and the odd bath. At a later date maybe underfloor heating downstairs....

Apparently these are big in the states but not so much here so was wondering if anyone here has come across them and if they are any cop.

Is there a huge delay when turning a tap on? Not really. There is a short delay similar to your electric shower.
Are they efficient? Yes very efficient.
Are they cheap to run compared to normal water heating methods? Normal being E7 heated water? Maybe. It depends if you don't use a huge amount of water yet heat a whole tank every night then yes it's cheaper even though the electric costs are twice or more of the night rate. If you nearly always run out of E7 heated water then no it would be cheaper staying with your immersion heater.

Cheers guys

Becky

Hope that helps...

becks92

Hi there we have storage heaters and upstairs is fine and toasty but downstairs is cold so thinking of underfloor heating.

becks92

Immersion heater is not on E7

Tank is old and due to replacing immersion heater twice the top is twisted. Wouldn't say its properley lagged but has new jacket on.

Thanks guys we have a plumber who can fit it and he recommended it!

We don't often run out of water but would be nice to know we can't :-)

fluffpot

12kW is a BIG load to add onto a normal domestic property, esp if you already have storage heaters. You may need to have your incoming electricity supply upgraded, which will be extremely expensive. Best to get an electrician in to give some advice

McKneff

Dont let whoever is putting your new system in take your copper boiler away, they are worth a fortune nowadays,

Someone said on the TV this morning that copper was £6k a ton, so retain it to sell yourself

devotee

fluffpot wrote: »

12kW is a BIG load to add onto a normal domestic property, esp if you already have storage heaters. You may need to have your incoming electricity supply upgraded, which will be extremely expensive. Best to get an electrician in to give some advice

Really? I've just had a new circuit breaker installed by an electrician. Everything worked fine.
So you're saying that in theory having five kettles boiling at the same time that would blow the fuse?

Dognobs

devotee wrote: »

Really? I've just had a new circuit breaker installed by an electrician. Everything worked fine.
So you're saying that in theory having five kettles boiling at the same time that would blow the fuse?

Not just that with the shower and heaters 1000w or 1k = 4amps to be safe. domestic supply can handle 100 amps but not constant.