Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site whuxlm.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!whuxlm!mag
From: mag@whuxlm.UUCP (Gray Michael A)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Info on hot water heater gizmo?
Message-ID: <666@whuxlm.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Feb-85 16:57:52 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxlm.666
Posted: Fri Feb  1 16:57:52 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 14:07:54 EST
References: <775@ut-sally.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany
Lines: 40

> 
>      When I visited the World's Fair this past summer, I saw a home hot water
> heater device that was kind of interesting.
> 
>      It was a small device; you could hold it in your hands.  But it was
> supposed to work just as well as the reservoir-type heaters we are accustomed
> to.  I think it worked on the same principle as those traveler's single-cup
> water heaters. (A heating element you put in the water.)
> 
>      The people at the Fair said that they have used this kind of hot water
> heater in Europe for years.  They also said this kind is better for 3 reasons:
> 1)  More efficient.  It only heats when the water is running through it.  You
>     don't have to keep 50 gallons warm all the time.
> 2)  You don't run out of hot water.  Apparently,  It can heat it up fast
>     enough.
> 3) Oh yes, it is also cheaper.
> 
>      Has anybody had any experience with these things?
> 
> Brian H. Powell		brian@ut-sally

A friend of mine is an architect and she has experience with these things.
They work fine. They take little space.  However, they need large electric
supplies (like 50 amps minimum), so heavy duty wiring is necessary.  If you
assume 50 amps at 117 volts, you have 6850 watts, or 6.85 kwh/hr, meaning
that, at 11 cents per kwh, you are paying about 75 cents an hour to operate
a small one.  Her cost analyses have indicated that they are excellent
for say, a church or a weekend home, where keeping 100 gallons of water
hot during long periods of no demand would be expensive.  She does not
recommend them for other installations, since natural gas costs so much
less.

Incidentally, I spent a few years in Europe and another common method
used the same idea of heating only on demand, but it used gas!  There was
a large (2 feet by 3 feet by 1 foot) nest of water pipes above the tub.
When you turned on the water, a giant gas flame came on (with a WHOOSH!)
and heated the pipes.  Worked well, but the water was excruciatingly
hot, so care was necessary.

Mike Gray, BTL, WH