Hi, and welcome to another episode of "What's New in Plumbing," I'm Boruch Fishman, and today we will be talking with Byron Graham, the Co-Director of A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore. How's It Going Bryan? Byran: Good, how you doing? Boruch: Good, thanks. Byran and I were conversing a little bit before and we are going to be talking right now about the innovative tankless water heaters. And specifically, I want to ask Byran what he thinks about the electric water heaters. Byran, what's your opinion about them? Byran: I have installed several tankless electric water heaters. They do work, but they do not sustain and perform as well as the gas tankless water heaters do. Boruch: Can you be precise about what you mean by "not performing as well? Byron: The electric powered water heaters must have two or three, 40 or 60 amp breakers connected to the heater, so when it comes on, it will create enough power, to heat the water. Often our clients don't have enough electrical power or room left over in their panel box, to give them the three or four 40 or 60 amp breakers to provide the electrical energy for the heaters. And they have to upgrade their service, to put one in, to a 400 amp service, not a 200 amp service. Boruch: Okay, so a lot of people can't put them into their houses, because they don't have enough electricity. Byran: Right, they don't have sufficient electricity. The other issue we've come across with them is that most of these heaters are for a single person living in a house, or maybe a couple. As long as one person's using the hot water and no one else cuts it on you're fine. But in our experience, from what customers tell us, when someone in the hiouse cuts on a second hot water outlet, the hot water supply in the shower diminishes. So its really only efficient for a single hot water fixture in use at a given time. So if you're in the shower and your wife goes into the kitchen and she cuts on the kitchen sink your hot water's going to drop in the shower, because you're trying to heat it with electricity. Boruch: All right, so you're talking from experience, and not just theoretically that this can be a problem. Byran: Yes from experience. Boruch: That's important. Now let me ask you another question. There are people saying that in the future gas prices are going to go up significantly, and for that reason they're recommending the electric heaters. And of course they do have a life span of about 20 years, which means there will plenty of opportunity for prices to rise. Byran: In my personal opinion, and based on what I have seen at A-1 Plumbing and from my past experiences, the gas water heaters work a lot better, they are a lot more proficient. I'm aware that if gas prices go up in the future, that will make the electric untis more economical .Still, I think yu have to weigh any possible savings in cost against the service you are going to get from the unit. If you have a gas tankless heater, you do have to run 110 volts to it, but you will have continual hot water and you can run multiple points of usage. The thing we are starting to see now is that a lot of people are going to investigate the solar water heaters. There are pros and cons about the solar water heaters, as well. We have pros and cons with everything but we're noticing now a trend for people to go solar because they get a big tax break when they do. Boruch: Okay, folks there you've heard it directly from Byran. He's still going with the gas heaters, and he says if you're looking for something new, look into the solar heaters, and get that nice tax rebate from the government. Well, that's it for another episode of "What's New in Plumbing," Have a Great Day!"
Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit
In this episode of "What's New in Plumbing," Byran Graham, the Co-Owner of A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore shares his thoughts about the electric powered tankless water heaters.
A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore is a Baltimore plumbing company which specializes in kitchen plumbing and boiler replacement The company provides Timonium Plumbing and Baltimore plumbers
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 2 out of 5 1 out of 5
