Your favorite DHW

Larry Weingarten

... why you need to replace existing heater. But, with the height of things, maybe GFX or similar shower heat exchanger could be useful in an uncomplicated sort of way.

Yours, Larry

Steve_175

I have to replace a gas fired stand alone DHW in my house. I want to put something more energy efficient in. What do you like?

J.C.A._3

More info....

How are you heating? How big is the space, number of occupants, number of bathrooms and placement of baths and kitchen?

Not so much a general question....is it? JCA

Steve_175

It is a 3 bedrm in a two family house. One full and one half bath, DW and W/D The bathrooms are on the second and third floor. The current WH was installed about 4 years ago ( I hope it is still under warranty) and has had no problem keeping up with demand. I think it is 40 gal. It was installed at the same time as a new gas boiler was installed (one pipe steam).

Cosmo_3

That's easy!!!!!

IT DEPENDS

With a steamer you can pipe in with an indirect water heater which uses the boiler to heat the water, however you do have another option-

You could install a tankless, or a new tankless hybrid (with small tank) gas water heater. These generally have better combustion efficiency than a standard gas water heater with an atmospheric burner, as well as not storing and maintaining a hot tank of water. These turn on the heat when they sense water flow, and can heat the water very quickly as it passes through the unit.

I have put a few in now, and though each brand has some pros/cons they may be a good fit in a 1.5 bath house. I generally stay away from them if the house has very long hot water line runs because you do have to wait for the hot water to flush out the room temp water in the pipes if you haven't run hot water in a while.

You may get some better opinions

Cosmo

Big Will

new residential version of a commercial w/h

I have used it and really like it. Very efficient for the price. easy to install. Goes in like a normal water heater just needs a new flue and a drain. No relocation, no new gas line, no expensive flue, higher efficiency, no flow problems, less complicated, less parts to break. Don't get me wrong I have used and enjoyed tankless. saves room better than a standard tank. But this is better still. Although I think Noritz is coming out with a condensing tankless.
http://www.hotwater.com/products/residential/gas.html

Uni R_2

The sun

Bruce M_2

Navien Tankless

CR-180A tankless condensing on demand water heater. Here are the specifications:

http://www.navienamerica.com/content/CR-180-CR-180A-Engineering-Specifications-Sheet.pdf

Steve_175

I think GFX is a great idea but I do not have the money to retrofit it into my house right now. And I still need to get a new WH because the current one is leaking and GFX only tempers incoming water.

Larry Weingarten

OK

Thinking about what's most cost effective, the list might go something like, pipe insulation, low flow fixtures, structured plumbing, drain heat recovery, tempering tank and then condensing heater and solar go in there someplace.

A simple, cost effective way to put in a GFX is to install it only on a well used shower. Take the water it warms and run it to the cold side of the shower. It's fairly simple plumbing. Should you ever repipe, look up "structured plumbing" and "Gary Klein". You can save thousands of gallons of water yearly and the energy to heat it while getting better performance.

Yours, Larry

MPF

Interesting...

Thanks