Plumbing... heat on demand hot water heaters

[grumpydasmurf]

I need an electric "heat on demand" hot water heater.

I am going to remodel my condo bathroom this winter. The bathroom looks funky because the hot water heater is located in the bathroom and has a custom cabinet built around it. The custom cabinet looks really funky and is the first thing you see when you walk into the bathroom.

I was looking into the heat on demand heaters that are pretty small. What are the benefits besides size and energy effeciency? Is there any draw backs I should be aware of?

[Rich]

Other benefits are, as you said, heat on demand. These are sometimes called "Instantaneous Water Heaters" - which is a definate plus.
On demand water heaters used to be considered bad because they were thought to scald people when first turning on. Electric ones are not as efficient as gas ones but both are better than your typical electric water heaters.

[grumpydasmurf]

Hmmm... so they DO make electric ones?! That's good news. I'll have to see if I can hunt one down.

[Rich]

Some of the electric ones that I've seen are very very small and are inline with the piping. Of course because of this they don't have the large output of heated water and occassionally need to be replaced due to hard water buildup etc. But I also believe there are large output models that are the same size as the gas fired ones. I'll do some checking around and see if I can find any more information for you.

[grumpydasmurf]

Thanks. I have found a few. Even the biggest ones I have found are 1/4 the size of my existing tanked heater. Even if I install one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen I still have a ton of space.

I think my remodel projects are a must this winter!