Sep 19, 2008 08:44 pm
Solar Thermal Hot Water or Tankless Hot Water
Looking for advice and help deciding on how to proceed.
We currently use an electric hot water heater, to provide hot water to 4 distinct locations.
1 location uses almost no hot water ( spare bath )
1 location is the clothes washer, and rarely uses hot water
1 location is kitchen sink used daily ... mostly in the late evening + dishwasher ... which is used about twice a month
1 location is master bath for two people with average use of only a couple of showers per day. the showers are almost always in the early a.m. ... long before sunshine. :-)
So, our use is relatively light.
The hot water heater in the crawl space ( which is a different project ... making air tight and solar heating )
Access to the pipes to each location is fairly clear and easy.
So ...
If my largest hot water consumption happens in the early a.m. ... It feels like I'm not going to take advantage of the 'best' hot water that a solar hot water system can provide.
First question ... is this true? Do i understand correctly, that solar hot water systems will not keep their heat ( without other energy source help ) overnight, very well?
And is it true that I should expect to pay around 3k total for the components and installation ( by local,who charges very reasonable hourly rates )
This leads me to think about tankless hot water heaters ... 1 for each of the 4 locations. and getting completely rid of the current electric hot water heater. This way I should save a tremendous amount of energy from standby heating ... and heat loss from transporting through the pipes.
Question 2 ... is this true?
Is it also true that the tankless will end up costing less to purchase and install? Less than 2k?