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Originally Posted by stevey_frac
Your hot water demands must be very low! My family could never do that!
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I use .5 GPM aerators on the bathroom sink, 1.5 on the kitchen, and 1.5 in the shower. I never wash hands with warm water (the water in the pipe is room temperature, and it's the scrubbin' that gets you clean!) The dishwasher gets run maybe 4x/week, and we get in about 1.5 showers/day with no problems (mine is absurdly low water
). Even if I take a 15 minute shower after someone else, I don't have to adjust the temperature at the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevey_frac
A modern high efficiency gas water heater, one that is condensing, brings the temperature of the exhuast gases below 100 C. Like most thermodynamic cycles, even a flame is more efficient at higher temperatures. These units have no pilot light, as they feature electronic ignition. When they're off, no natural gas is being consumed.
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Cool. I had never heard of this kind of water heater. Here's the
EnergyStar page on them.
Do you have a reference for what you said about flames being a thermodynamic cycle? I don't see how that could be, since there's no work being done.
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Originally Posted by stevey_frac
You can also put a insulating jacket on it.
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I've thought about it, but I worry about the over-temperature valve going off!
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevey_frac
There are get a reverse flow heat exhanger that goes in the drain pipe to warm the water going into the tank. This can save a lot of hot water from going down the drain.
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Those are so cool. If I had my druthers I would install one in a heartbeat.
That sounds like a great integrated system for hot water, stevey_frac. You might be interested in
this low-cost, low-energy shower instructable.