EVERYTHING about Electric Tankless Water Heaters (2018)

I'll explain How to choose and electric tankless water heater, how electric tankless water heaters work, do electric tankless water heaters work, what is the best electric tankless water heater? This discussion is about "Whole House" models meant to serve your entire home, not "Point of use" meant for one specific fixture. We will do another one about those later so be sure to subscribe.

If you like what we do here consider supporting us on Patreon!

Ebay:

[johnspruit]

01-23. This video might be a bit dated, but i learned a lot. much appreciated. Ontario Canada .

[lahi-lophoto]

Thanks you so much for explaining complicated technology in layman terms:)

[KateMcKittrick]

Hi Scott, Thanks for this tutorial. I live in a ~1400 square-foot, 2.5 bath house in the mountains of North Carolina where the groundwater is full of sediment and runs between 52 and 54°F. My house came with a titan N-180 electric tankless hot water heater (manufacturing date 5/15) that draws 75 amps on two 40 amp breakers. I replaced the well pump in 2020 after the addition of a spin down filter between the well water intake and the whole house filter failed to solve the problem of having to change the whole house filter frequently. The spin down filter seems to be doing its job (not much sediment in the whole house filter) but the hot water heater fails intermittently. I hired a plumber last week because the heater was providing lukewarm water. The titan N-180 has three elements, the first of which had a mild amount of visible external scale. The plumber reset the two thermostats, but also said they had not been tripped. For reasons the plumber didn’t understand, I had and still have hot water following this intervention. I am considering replacing the Titan with a Stiebel Eltron. The plumber gave me an estimate for a Steibel Eltron 24, which requires a minimum of two 50 amp breakers. The estimate did not mention the need for electrical work. The Steibel Eltron 20 would work with my two 40 amp breakers but, in this climate, could provide one shower at a time. It’s essentially the equivalent of the Titan and I may consider it. The other option is liquid propane (natural gas is not available here). I have some gas infrastructure in place because a previous owner installed a gas logs fireplace. According to the gas company, I would need additional infrastructure as well as venting and a 120 V outlet provided by an electrician. Also, I am aware that some states are banning new gas appliances due to environmental concerns and protecting the environment is important to me. Finally, the tech at Titan advised me to ship the heater to them in Florida for a $60 repair. That seemed very odd to me. I would appreciate your perspective. Thanks.

[Scuba_Bro]

A 36kw from Rheem actually does a solid job in the winter here in MA… but to your point running the electrical was a huge pain in the ass. I had to run 8 gauge for each of the 4 heating elements to 4x 40 amp double pole breakers. We only have 2 bathrooms and can run both showers with it at the same time for 11 months out of the year. If you live in an area like we do where it gets cold from November to March then you’re crazy to get anything less than 36kw and ABSOLUTELY make sure it modulates! My Rheem has been doing great for us in a 2100 square foot home

[richardflaherty]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video.

[ezzeem]

Yo Scott! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! I've learned more from your vid than I have from my random searching by far. Thank you very much!

[ajent]

Great video! So much good info! Thank you so much! Working on my second remodel with an electric tankless in southern Missouri and trying to do it right this time. You're a huge help Scott!

[markjerling]

Just one data point. I live near Phoenix AZ. Replaced my conventional gas tank water heater in 2016 as it was 13 years old and on borrowed time based on this area. Against the advice of the plumbing contractor decided against replacing in kind ($1300 with labor at the time) and went with a 13.2 kW Rheem electric tankless unit. Had to run 220V x 60A but was not in a hurry since the tank heater hadn't failed yet. COULDN'T BE HAPPIER! No problems in 9 years, and if I had to, I can replace the Rheem unit myself in 30 minutes with a unit that Home Depot has in stock for around $330. Most of the time it is just me and the wife so it doesn't add much to our electric bill, but occasionally we have a lot of visitors who take back-to-back-to-back showers and it never runs out of hot water like our tank used to. Our shower heads are all 1.6 gpm which is low-flow but they work just fine. Our main bath has a thermostatic faucet which regulates shower temperature within a narrower band which I recommend if you ever retrofit. We have never popped a breaker (not even once) and after the first year I soaked the unit in vinegar but found didn't really need to as there was no scale and there has been no loss of performance in 9 years. The other nice thing is the unit is light and small and mounts out of the way high on the wall, freeing up the large drip pan area that the tank used to sit on so now we can store wet things like hoses, mops, mop buckets, etc. in that space. I highly recommend an electric tankless if your have the right conditions (southern state, smaller household, etc.). In a middle-tier state you might need to go up a size for minimal additional cost.

[barrycheshier]

Great info for the layman! Best advice from you to me: hire a professional to size and install unit. What do you think about using a recirculating pump that can be switched on and off at point of use? Give it a minute to get the hot water to the point of use and then use the hot water. Seems like an idea that might work and save on wasted water and gas/electricity costs, too.

[yannisxmarkos]

Thank you, I learn more from you than 5 other videos I watched

[bfindy]

Thank you so much i have been researching for awhile now and everyone talks about gas. Finally someone talk about electric

[tallguy]

thank you finally someone with real answers both ways, for an against and why . I'm looking into both gas/electric

[kerrynewman]

I just installed a 13kw in my single story house in Texas. Yes I had to install 6 awg wire and a 60A breaker. For me and my wife it works perfectly.

[avandyke]

Great information! I’m building a 2400 square-foot house out in the country which will have a 2 1/2 bathrooms and two people living in the house. I’m glad that I know now to have a conversation with the electrician before this is installed. I really don’t want to have to have propane, I want to have all electric. In addition to electrical service I’m going to have solar as well and a back up solar storage battery for the whole house.

[jenniferbmendezful]

Thank you, from Chicago. Your educational video. Saved me headache of going electric. Mucho thumbs up.

[mikep]

I like my Seisco. It's a 28 kw unit. Model RA-28. 4 heaters. A whole house unit. I wired it up myself. Our water is well water for our town, but it's held in 6 tanks up on the hillside before it arrives here. So the water is very warm in the summer out here in the AZ desert. Sometimes warm enough to take a shower with cold only water. The research I did on Seisco showed that their warranty response to a problem was superior to everyone else. That's my experience with them as well. Our unit is 3.7 years old and works fine. Far cheaper than propane !!

[DavidBeede]

Just FYI here in North Florida I have a well and it's 77 degrees right now in August. I think in Winter it only goes down to 72. Very helpful video.

[HD-wwje]

I was wanting an electric tankless but was steering away because of the flow rate issue. Thanks to your video and explaining I can properly research for my area and see if I can pull it off for our size

[joniloumckinster]

I have a tankless heater for only a hand sink and one shower. Since it has gotten colder my shower isn't getting hot. The water temperature and temp. rise explained a lot. Note: It's not only guy who wanted this video. Thanks.

[ozpoundcake]

Thank you, answered many of my questions. Think I have perfect house for a electric tank-less....1.5 bath, short runs, municipal water, north west Florida and just the wife and I....now I'm down to the power panel requirements, circuit breakers and wire gauge.