Heat rises, and the hot water in your water heater will push some water up there the pipes, so if you’re hot water heater is directly under your kitchen for instance, the hot water will only need to travel a short distance to get to the faucet, thus the hot water only takes only a few seconds or so to come out of the faucet. On the other hand (for another example) if you hot water heater is in the corner your basement, and your master bath room is on the second floor opposite side of the house from the water heater, the hot water will need to travel a much further distance to get to your fixtures, the result is it’s takes a minute or two for hot water to start flowing.
Another reason, concern, and even complaint is that after a “high efficiency” upgrade to the domestic water heating system, (a tankless water heater for example) the hot water takes much longer than it did with the old system.
The reason is. Lets say for example you had a tank type water heater (most people do have those un-efficient things), you have been used to hot water almost instantly coming out of your faucets, and now with your tankless water heater the water takes a minute or longer to get hot.
Why does my tankless water heater takes so long to make hot water? I thought it made water hot instantly!
Back to the example above. The tank type water heater was making hot water all day long, whether it was needed or not and some of the hot water forces it’s way threw a great deal of your houses plumbing. (which is a total waste of energy) The result is the water seemed to be produced faster, but in reality the hot water was just there in the pipes near the fixture the whole time.
The tankless water heater is much different. It does in fact produce hot water instantly, BUT the water in the “hot” pipes within the house are no longer filled with hot water all day long (like it was with the un-effiecnt tank type heater) , and now the hot water (tho it’s created instantly) has to make it’s way through all the plumbing (push all the cold water out) before the hot water gets to the desired fixture!
It’s common sense if you think about it. But like everything else, you don’t know until you know.
My hot water takes to long, what can I do about it?
Some plumbers are just out for the quickest buck and don’t think about the client ever again a few minutes after the get a check from a client, and some guys like our own Bruce and Jay perform every installation like we would want performed in our own homes. If you think installing a tankless water heater is slapping the unit on the wall, and tying in the gas and water lines, you are greatly mistaken. There is A LOT of thought and consideration that has to be taken before even considering a tankless water heater installation. Leave it to the experts!
Tankless water heaters can have a long delay, which is natural, but there are some things that can be done.
For example. If you have half inch water lines threw out the house change all the 1/2 inch water lines to 3/4 lines.
You can also have a recirculating line and recirculating pump installed on the domestic water line near the water heater which will keep most of the hot water flowing thew the domestic hot water lines.
Things to note:
*WELL SYSTEMS- If you have well water with out a storage tank, you should install a storage tank (if you want to use a tankless water heater) the reason is the tankless water heater wants to get the hot water to the fixture fast, but it will only be able to push out the hot water as fast as the well’s pump is able to supply the unit with water. (which usually isn’t fast enough) A storage tank would increase water flow.
*LOW FLOW- If you have a low flow show head that uses less than 2 gallons of water per minute there could be a problem. The tankless unit has a flow sensor in it, which won’t allow it to turn on until enough “flow” hot water, is called for. To fix this simply waste more water, (get a different shower head)
* What the heck is wrong with my washing machine? If you have a fancy energy star washing machine, and a tankless water heater, you may have a situation with the washing machine not cleaning the clothes properly, or the machine may be making strange noises, or you may even see some kind of blinking code on the display pad.
The reason most likely, the washing machine only uses a small amount of hot water, and if the hot water takes a couple minutes to get there, the washing machine isn’t going to be happy. (it’s not getting hot water fast enough).
This can cause the tankless water heater to “sandwich” which basically means turns on and off. Those front end loading high efficiency washing machine are wonderful, but don’t work very well with tankless water heaters.
To fix the problem, you could install a point of use hot water heater right next to the washing machine, or you can run a dedicated hot water line from the water heater to the washing machine. (this is called installing a “home run” line)
More water heating info to come…….
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