JD> The idea of a tank-type water heater is pretty simple: it
 JD> requires a LOT of ommph to heat water as fast as most folks
 JD> want to use it.
IW>Yeah. I guess that's why gas is more appropriate for it than
IW>electricity.
JD> Do the calculations sometime and you'll see what I mean. A
JD> tank can be heated by a relatively small source over a longer
JD> period of time, then used at a fairly rapid rate.
IW>I've read that demand heaters use less energy overall. Do you think
IW>that's not true?
JD> The only reason for any energy consumption to "hold a lot of
JD> water at that temperature" is because of thermal loss. This is
JD> really pretty darn minimal in today's water heaters. I think
JD> most folks would be amazed at how little energy it takes to
JD> keep water hot.
IW>Hmmm. I would. :)
IW>I agree that if you're gonna use one, you should insulate the thing.
IW>But the _idea_ of using energy around the clock to keep 40 gallons
IW>of water hot seems a bit screwy to me when you can just heat what
IW>you need when you need it.
IW>But educate me,
I use a 5gal propane RV hot water heater & it truly is amasing how little
it takes to keep it contineusly heated (set at the lowest setting). I''ve
run out of propane in wintertime & still gotten warm water 36 to 48hrs
latter. This only works one time, the incomeing very cold water quickly
cools 5gals of warm.
---
 * OLX 2.1 TD * I'm not a poor speller, I just spell creatively
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------