Wife demands hot water...

[Speedling]

So, i have an old house build in the 60's. My wife really wants like instant hot water, and her tolerance is such that she wants it essentially boiling.
We have a 40 gallon hot water heater so it's not nearly enough with a family of 5 and my wife babysitting a few kids all day.
I argue that the hot water doesn't kill germs unless it's boiling essentially, and that the warm water is just a comfort thing, but that didn't do me any good.
So, instant? Larger tank?
I don't think the under the sink setups are ideal because they are electric and they don't really raise the temperature but about 45 degrees.
I know that all my lines are essentially 1/2" straight out of the hot water heater so there isn't a lot of throughput on the house either. I hoped to upgrade that later when I redo the Kitchen and bathrooms and give each one a seperate line of 3/4 and then T for the sink and shower in the bathroom.
In any case....
How do I go run my Washer, dishwasher, and take a shower at the same time? All with steam?

 

[Andy S]

Sounds like you need a tankless gas (propane or natural) water heater to handle the demand.

 

[njmr2fan]

We have a Rinnai instant hot water heater with a re-circulator in our home (6BR 6BA) we've had 4 people showering at 1 time and no one complained of cold water. It'll make hot water as long as you run hot water. Incredible. I never knew this existed until our builder brought it to us, now Ill never build without one.

 

[captras]

We HAD a Navien tank less water heater. When it worked it, it was great. Pretty much instant hot water, all you want, never ran out . Except it was a POS....Don't waste you money. Several plumbers have told me the only brand they sell is the Rinnai...but, Damn, they are expensive. We went back to a traditional gas, 50 gallon, quick recovery and it does just fine!

 

[bronze_10]

We have a Rinnai instant hot water heater with a re-circulator in our home (6BR 6BA) we've had 4 people showering at 1 time and no one complained of cold water. It'll make hot water as long as you run hot water. Incredible. I never knew this existed until our builder brought it to us, now Ill never build without one.

6 ed rooms 6 baths.. damn! that's a lot of bathrooms to clean

 

[4x15mph]

I would say research this and read the pros/cons. I think 40 gallon is undersized to begin with given the water you are using. Consider an 80 gallon which is what we have and handles 4 adults (teenagers/wash/lots of showers)

 

[OCMD]

Get a larger capacity water heater and crank up the temperature. Then there is always plenty of hot water tempered with cold to get a nice temperature. 2 baths at the beach house, plenty of people and we never have lost hot water. The key is to put the thermostat up higher than recommended, and remind people to be careful and don't move the lever to "all the way" hot. This has worked for us for years.

 

[AZDANSX230HO]

Larger tank, as OCMD said crank up the temp, and also add a recirculating pump.

 

[Bruce]

We have a GeoSpring hybrid hot water heater. State offers a similar product as well. When building our house I had initially planned to use two electric tankless hot water heaters. But then I discovered that the geothermal heat and air system would produce free 100 degree hot water when cooling. So I decided to use a well insulated 50 gallon $300 State hot water heater as a storage tank and a 50 gallon GeoSpring to heat the water.

The GeoSpring uses a heat pump for most of its heating. It also has electric elements to use for additional or emergency heating. It is doubly useful as it dehumidifies and cools our basement garage. A 50 gallon GeoSpring sells for less than $1,400. It is energy star rated to use $162 per year of electricity.
A standard 50 gallon hot water heater will use $555 of electricity per year. By saving $400 a year in electricity cost the GeoSpring makes up its additional cost quickly.

 

[Speedling]

Sounds like you need a tankless gas (propane or natural) water heater to handle the demand.

From what i read, tankless only brings up the water 35-45 degrees. I start at 50-55 due to using a well. Thats 85-90 degrees and that isn't enough for her.

 

[Speedling]

Get a larger capacity water heater and crank up the temperature. Then there is always plenty of hot water tempered with cold to get a nice temperature. 2 baths at the beach house, plenty of people and we never have lost hot water. The key is to put the thermostat up higher than recommended, and remind people to be careful and don't move the lever to "all the way" hot. This has worked for us for years.

Have the temp on the heater cranked a bit high but she uses 40 gallons in like 5 minutes.

 

[Speedling]

We have a GeoSpring hybrid hot water heater. State offers a similar product as well. When building our house I had initially planned to use two electric tankless hot water heaters. But then I discovered that the geothermal heat and air system would produce free 100 degree hot water when cooling. So I decided to use a well insulated 50 gallon $300 State hot water heater as a storage tank and a 50 gallon GeoSpring to heat the water.

The GeoSpring uses a heat pump for most of its heating. It also has electric elements to use for additional or emergency heating. It is doubly useful as it dehumidifies and cools our basement garage. A 50 gallon GeoSpring sells for less than $1,400. It is energy star rated to use $162 per year of electricity.
A standard 50 gallon hot water heater will use $555 of electricity per year. By saving $400 a year in electricity cost the GeoSpring makes up its additional cost quickly.

I am gonna read up on this but where i live anything electric costs a lot more to run than gas.
For example, my buddy put in radiant heat on his shop but didn't have a seperate gas line out there, just electric. He bought a dual element water heater/boiler and it worked great! But the bill was so large that he couldn't run it. We're talking hundreds of dollars a month. Gas works great.

 

[Bruce]

I am gonna read up on this but where i live anything electric costs a lot more to run than gas.
For example, my buddy put in radiant heat on his shop but didn't have a seperate gas line out there, just electric. He bought a dual element water heater/boiler and it worked great! But the bill was so large that he couldn't run it. We're talking hundreds of dollars a month. Gas works great.

You northerners need a lot more heat than we do in the south. But with a water heater inside the heated house I think the running costs should be similar.

 

[buckbuck]

I am not sure of the numbers but I don't think the cost to run a gas water heater is anywhere near an electric one. My guess is gas fired is 1/3 the cost.

 

[Bruce]

You guys are right about the natural gas cost. This 50 gallon State gas water heater is rated to cost $230 per year to run which is less than half the cost of an electric hot water heater but around 50% more than the GeoSpring. Natural gas is rare in my area.

 

[njmr2fan]

Ask a local plumber about that. We have cold mainline water and we can set the water temp up to 120* in 5* increments. I can post our model info if you're interested.

 

[Noko]

I have a friend who has two hot water heaters. He says he never runs out of hot water. I've read that the instant hot water heaters can have moments of hot and cold. They also are very expensive. It could take you years to break even with the cost of an instant on versus regular hot water heater.

 

[Speedling]

I have a friend who has two hot water heaters. He says he never runs out of hot water. I've read that the instant hot water heaters can have moments of hot and cold. They also are very expensive. It could take you years to break even with the cost of an instant on versus regular hot water heater.

I think a single larger one and a recirculating pump may be my ticket.

 

[dan144k]

50 gallon with a larger btu burner would probably do it. startard is usually 40,000btu. and i think you can up them to 40,000btu and 75,000btu.

Also if you update the shower heads or install water ristrictors. the tank will empty slower, and hot water will last longer.

The instant hot water heaters work well, but they need to be sized properly. based on inlet water temp and gallons used.

also instead of buying one large unit, sometimes you are better buying two medium size units. then you have redundancy in case in stops working. the tankless units have many more components and do break more frequently.

 

[Speedling]

I wonder if i could tie in radiant heat to the system? Perhaps use the old water heater as a "boiler" for the kitchen and two bathrooms? Going to look at the btus of the unit in morning.