New tankless hot water heater design hitting market.

Engineering wise, looks to be a strong upgrade to what I have previously seen in the market for electrical systems. I like the higher durability and lower maintenance. Additionally due to its design, I believe this can be more easily configured in series and parallel to increase output. http://myheatworks.com/

Kickstarter Page wrote:Give me some Specs!

Delivers 2.0 GPM (7.6 LPM) of hot water at 240 VAC and 48 amps (multiple units can be mounted in parallel, or in several places, to provide more hot water). (Be sure to check with your electrician to be sure your system can provide the required power). This assumes incoming water temp of 70 F (21 C) and output of 110 F (43 C). You may need more than one for your application.

Autosenses AC voltage from 100-277 V, and 50 - 60 hZ. Single phase power. Max current draw is set from 15 to 48 amps by user at installation.

Water inlet and outlet = 3/4" "sharkbite" fittings (metric solution coming!)

Accepts preheated water.

Conforms to UL standard 499 and EU and CAN standards.

Approximately 16 lbs (7.3 kg) , and 12.5" (32cm) long by 6" (16 cm) in diameter.

WiFi module will be available in Spring 2014 and will plug into any MODEL 1 purchased now.

3 year warranty, with full unit exchange policy should you need it.

No annual maintenance.

Super quiet (yes, the other ones are noisy!).

Comes with universal mounting brackets

When I tried to compare this new tankless water heater to the following:

http://www.ecosmartus.com/products/electric-tankless/eco-24-eco-27.aspx

I was frustrated that the two assumed different temperatures of incoming water. It would be convenient if tankless water heaters had standard testing conditions similar to those used for PV panels.

This heater does use far less current, so it can be used in houses that didn't have the ability to accommodate the higher power tankless water heaters currently on the market.

The amount of current used is sort of a mixed blessing because that correlates to the capacity to generate heat. For showers I want the option of a 3-4 gallon unit I imagine will follow after their initial product but a 2 gallon flow rate is doable. What I do like is the ability change the current draw as you said which makes installation a little more flexible.

I looked into on demand hot water heaters quiet a bit few years ago and this looks very interesting. I kept wondering through the whole vid "how much". So far my only problem is if I have low pressure occasionally it won't turn on. I think this unit would not have that problem. I did read lots of stories of very unreliable companies selling these so it being new concerns me. Again How Much???

from Wikipedia:
Legionnaires' disease is transmitted by inhalation of aerosolized water and/or soil contaminated with the bacteria.
Over 90% of cases of Legionnaires' disease are caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila.
It thrives in temperatures between 25 and 45 °C (77 and 113 °F)

This disturbs me. The output temp is listed at 110* F (43* C). Right where the bacteria thrives.

John Polk : If we assume a starting temperature Sub 70dF then we are below the Legionnaires comfort zone , supposedly the total contact time is less then
2 seconds, that does not give them bugs much time for procreating be for the water is running of your body, and on its way to being gray water, with a max
delivery of 2 gal a minute ( most low flow showers are rated at 2.5 gal and a 110dF final temp I don't see much danger of aerosol-ation ether, I don't see it
as a host for Legionnaires Disease or a great shower !

Someone is trying to do something almost identical as a Kickstarter ! Big AL !

beder bourahmah : This looks like conventional technology, i e just a water heater w/out the tank, IF that is what it is, and I THINKit is, then it needs
to be fed with water that has gone through a water softener or the Elements will load up with scale and fail, not as fast s a Natural Gas, or Propane/Butane
'' instant'' hot water heaters Radiator-like heat exchanger fins, but fast ! Big AL

I found an article which summarized the pros and cons on the newer system. It is a decent read if you are interested.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/79733.html

Iam going to make a sweeping comment that does not fit all situations: Electric tankless water heaters are bad for the environment.

Iam a fan of any energy efficiency improvement especially with something as major as the water heater. If someone uses this product in a way that reduces their energy and environmental costs then thats probably a good thing. The reason I say electric tankless are bad for the environment is because they are bad for the electric grid which is a major disadvantage to this type of water heater. People also tend to use more energy overall with tankless due to the never ending supply. The two most popular third party, scientific studies on tankless water heaters (including gas) found them to not save money when the cost of upgrading infrastructure was included. New construction is a little different but still not a fan personally for several reasons.

People use most hot water during the peak demand hours of electricity use which puts strain on the grid and drives the need to build more fossil fuel fired power plants. A better strategy using strictly electric resistance would use a big storage tank and time of use billing scheduled with a timer. The power draw of electric tankless is enormous, bigger than anything else in a typical home. Ive read that its not uncommon for a neighbors lights to dim as an electric tankless fires up down the street. The grid would be in big trouble if there was widespread adoption of this product despite its increased efficiency over similar products.

My favorite thing about this product's "claims" is that it handles pre-heated water which lends itself well to solar, compost or even RMH inputs. Usually pre-heated water compatibility is a major disadvantage to tankless for me. Small space requirements are probably its biggest advantage over the arguably most efficient water heater available; the heat pump water heater. Anyone looking for a more efficient water heating technology should probably start their search there.

Thanks Brian. I wasn't aware of how tankless systems overtax the grid. I always thought that it was all sunshine and roses with this product. One reason that I like a tank is that it can be used in conjunction with wood heating and solar collectors, so that the electricity only kicks in enough energy to bring the tank to the desired outflow temperature.

On the legionella question --- As Allen stated, it's a non issue, unless an incredibly polluted source water is used. These bacteria multiply when water is held at a suitable reproductive temperature for long periods. Tank systems which are set too low are a problem. Some motels and B&Bs will turn off the tank between visitors. The tank takes several days to cool and populations explode. Then someone rents a room and the tank is turned on again, but the new visitor doesn't know to wait for the tank to reach 140F. They hop into the lukewarm shower and inhale deeply. Air conditioning units can also be bad. Swamp coolers should either use cold well water or water that has been heated to kill the bacteria.

At worse, you can still use a conventional or alternative tank heating system in series with this heater system because it adjusts to incoming water temperatures. Many gallons of water are wasted just waiting for hot water in my home in its current design.

allen lumley wrote:... it needs
to be fed with water that has gone through a water softener or the Elements will load up with scale and fail, not as fast s a Natural Gas, or Propane/Butane '' instant'' hot water heaters Radiator-like heat exchanger fins, but fast ! Big AL

Good grief to we have this problem in a big way. Scale builds up, chips fall off the pipe & clogging thing. No solution for us yet but I've been thinking about collecting rain water which would be much much less like to to scale (if at all?).

Ours if fueled by propane, BTW.

Amedean Messan wrote:At worse, you can still use a conventional or alternative tank heating system in series with this heater system because it adjusts to incoming water temperatures. Many gallons of water are wasted just waiting for hot water in my home in its current design.

This would seem a good compromise if the unit is cheap enough. I've been to homes where the kitchen is 40 ft. from the tank.
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I helped my dad pipe a duplex with a standard water tank in the basement apartment, in a closet that separated kitchen from bathroom. We had bath over bath and kitchen over kitchen. The backs of the bathrooms shared a wall with the kitchen. An insulated 3/4 inch pipe was used. It came up inside the bathroom wall and then to the kitchen sink, The run for the bathroom was 5 feet and 10 feet to the kitchen sink. Whenever one sink was used, hot water traveled through the shared supply line. No waiting and running water down the drain.

The worst systems see bare pipes running through unheated basements and crawl spaces. When I do demolitions of single family homes with a kitchen and 2 baths, plumbed with half inch copper, I sometimes get 15 lb of copper and sometimes as much as 100 lb. The people who wasted money on all of the extra pipe, also wasted massive amounts of water and electricity or gas for the life of the building.

Well, these units should be shipping in about a month. Because he sourced the parts to be made overseas, he had some slight quality control issues that should be fixed soon. On another note, he made another video clarifying some installation aspects of the water heater.

Heatworks is having a giveaway for a free Heatworks Model 1. Not many people have entered so look them up on Facebook and sign in. Feel free to give them some PR, they are a great small company with top tier, bleeding edge tech in this category.

https://www.facebook.com/HEATWORKSMODEL1

Until it is released there will be a ton of speculation... they claim that there isn't a build up of minerals on the graphite electrodes. One of this things main benefits I think is that the simple design means less failure. Though i worry about the circuits.

Rebumping this thread to see if anyone has experience yet with these units on which this thread was initiated: http://myheatworks.com/pages/sizing

Been thinking about tankless electric and was looking at the ECOsmart units and then saw this thread. The Heatworks Model 1 had some mixed reviews up through mid-2015, but was was wondering if others yet had additional input.....looks to be attractive in many ways. Also, we have quite hard well-water and didn't know what the tolerance was on the manufacturers statement that "The water source must fall within 150 to 1500 μs of conductivity".

Any users of either the EcoSmart or Heatworks tankless units or an equivalent? This would be for a 2 person home with low hot water use and we'd be replacing a tank heater. Thanks.