> FWIW, I belong to Gold's Gym. They moved to a new location a few
> years ago
> and remodeled the building to suit their needs. They installed three big
> tankless units on an outside wall opposite the two locker rooms. So far
> they seem to work fine, plenty of hot water.
Whatever flow rate & rise they will supply, they will supply indefinitely.
So you never "run out" of hot water like with a tank.
But I just did a little calculation for my house. To support 140F water
(Yes, I like my hot water hot) and potential simultaneous use of 2
showers/tubs; a dishwasher; a clothes washer and a single faucet, I would
need somewhere around 130 kW ! At 240v, that's over 500 amps !
Ok, so do it with natural gas (which is far cheaper for me anyway) ... the
biggest unit I found just now is priced at $2200 + professional
installation, and will handle less than half my estimated requirements.
Granted my requirements are on the high side, but I really hate having my
shower suddenly turn cold when someone turns on a faucet. My current 50
gal hot water tank won't support all that for long either, but at least it
degrades gradually.
And all this to save perhaps 10-20% of my natural gas bill. I pay roughly
$100/mo for nat gas, so the projected savings is $20/month. $2200/20 = 9
years just to break even, ignoring interest I would have earned if I'd kept
the money in the bank.
Randall
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