# Hot water tank -- Can you recommend an installer or tank?



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Our appliances and electronics seem to have been hit with Ebola. In quick succession, they've been giving up the ghost. And today, we've got water leaking from our hot water tank.

Can anyone recommend a really good, reliable hot water installer for Vancouver? Also, any recommendations on a tank? We have a big family and need a fairly big tank. The one we currently have is a John Henry. I think that it's lasted us about 5 years, but I'm not sure.

I'd appreciate any recommendations from you if you've replaced a hot water tank in the past few years and have been happy with the results.


----------



## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

I had a hot water on demand tank installed through Home Depot which has enough output for me to be doing a 50% water change on a 240 gallon fish tank, for my wife to be taking a shower and for the dishwasher to be on at the same time  and...no more hot water tanks. This saves you on hydro because it only heats the hot water as you need it as opposed to a hot water tank constantly keeping a large volume of water at a high temperature and my wife no longer gets mad when I do my daily water changes and she has to take a cold shower 

I think you can get an even higher capacity system if you want it. 

The service was great as was the follow up.


----------



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you for the suggestion. Josephl. I hadn't even thought of an on demand hot water system. I don't know much about them, so I'll look into them. I appreciate the info.


----------



## KBS1664 (Nov 9, 2010)

josephl said:


> I had a hot water on demand tank installed through Home Depot which has enough output for me to be doing a 50% water change on a 240 gallon fish tank, for my wife to be taking a shower and for the dishwasher to be on at the same time  and...no more hot water tanks. This saves you on hydro because it only heats the hot water as you need it as opposed to a hot water tank constantly keeping a large volume of water at a high temperature and my wife no longer gets mad when I do my daily water changes and she has to take a cold shower
> 
> I think you can get an even higher capacity system if you want it.
> 
> The service was great as was the follow up.


We use to have one of these. It was awesome. 5 people taking a shower in the evening and no shortage of hot water. Unfortunately now we have a regular hot water tank. It's not the same. kind of funny, I came on the computer to wait for the hot water to heat up so I can shower. Tenants used it all up!


----------



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks,KBS1664. We wait for water all the time, too, not because we have tenants these days but because we have teens.



KBS1664 said:


> We use to have one of these. It was awesome. 5 people taking a shower in the evening and no shortage of hot water. Unfortunately now we have a regular hot water tank. It's not the same. kind of funny, I came on the computer to wait for the hot water to heat up so I can shower. Tenants used it all up!


----------



## couch (Apr 22, 2010)

I have wanted one of these for a couple of years now but when I looked into it they were quite pricey (up front) even though I know that they would save money in the long term. If you don't mind me asking - approximately how much was the unit and the installation? Did you have to add a chimney or was the old tank close to an external wall?

Thanks, Rich



josephl said:


> I had a hot water on demand tank installed through Home Depot which has enough output for me to be doing a 50% water change on a 240 gallon fish tank, for my wife to be taking a shower and for the dishwasher to be on at the same time  and...no more hot water tanks. This saves you on hydro because it only heats the hot water as you need it as opposed to a hot water tank constantly keeping a large volume of water at a high temperature and my wife no longer gets mad when I do my daily water changes and she has to take a cold shower
> 
> I think you can get an even higher capacity system if you want it.
> 
> The service was great as was the follow up.


----------



## sNApple (Apr 23, 2010)

josephl said:


> I had a hot water on demand tank installed through *Home Depot *


i know there is a problem in the states with places like home depot/ lowes/ sears installing hw tanks .... as they are not certified plumbers.



KBS1664 said:


> It was awesome. 5 people taking a shower in the evening and no shortage of hot water.


this statement can be very misleading... your basic on demand unit has a gpm limit, sure you can have 5 showers running hot, but your gpm will be very low.. unless you get a higher end on demand unit ( 4K +) or run it with a storage tank, etc..

If anyone needs any plumbing done, i can give you quotes, just PM me


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

+1 for the on-demand units. We have one and we're very happy with it. It also saves a lot of space compared to a tank. I can't remember exactly how much we paid because it was part of a major renovation project and I don't remember the itemization, but yes they're certainly pricier upfront than the regular tanks. You do save on the long run though, although I don't know how long it is before you get your investment back. But there's something absurd in keeping all this huge tank water hot 24/7 just for the few times where you actually need it isn't it.


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

i have one at the shop. boiler. hot water on demand. i can do dogs all day and run the water for fish all day. never run out. but you need a good amount of pressure . 
i got a commercial one. it cost about 1200 with the venting. . the gas fitter cost me 1200. theres grants available i believe for changing over. google it and see if you can find a grant. check with hydro or terason . my gas bill with a gas clothes dryer which runs 8 hours a day at the shop drying towels and the hot water running full time for 8 hours with gas is 80.00 a month tops. worhtwhile what you pay now you will save in the long run.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

There is one concern with on demand hot water heaters in the past (not sure about the new ones) in that, as others have said, you need a significant pressure. So you cannot trickle the hot water. It's a bit of a light switch in some ways. If you have little ones in the house, you have to get used to it and teach the little ones how to use the tap so they don't burn themselves.


----------



## sNApple (Apr 23, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> If you have little ones in the house, you have to get used to it and teach the little ones how to use the tap so they don't burn themselves.


if you don't mind your water a little cooler, you can set it to 120-125, 
rather then 135-140


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

sNApple said:


> if you don't mind your water a little cooler, you can set it to 120-125,
> rather then 135-140


Yeah, that's what people generally do. But it's something to keep in mind for people swapping over from a hot water tank to tankless. It was something that was told to me as I'm considering that change also.


----------



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you for all your help and suggestions, everyone. One person even emailed me some research he'd done for his physics class. I have learned a lot!

We have someone coming tomorrow to give us hot water again.


----------

