[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by wdb

Sorry to hear it. Do they make one-room tankless units? Might change the economics...

We need to run 2 bathrooms off it. The issue was the electric demands of a tankless heater with enough capacity to meet the needs of a large air jet tub (plus electric demands of tub) couldn't be met with our existing panel. The meter is right outside the bathroom, which is on the opposite end of the house from the panel in the garage. The cost of running another line from the meter to a new panel in the garage and then back to the bathroom was outrageous. So we'd have to add a new panel for just the bathroom outside near the meter. Could be done and cheaper than going from meter to panel and back, but still a big investment in electric. If we were doing something else where we could leverage the gas tank investment maybe that would be feasible, but we aren't, and I don't want to add another project to justify the tank.

When the total budget for the bathroom pushed past 10% of the home's value we had to make some decisions and just decided everything else was more important than the tub, which was the real driver of the heater. It will still be a great bathroom, now with more storage space and lower budget, but no tub. Life goes on.

[DSB335d]

An a/c repair guy was servicing my system recently and I was telling him about a heat exchanger that I could use with my a/c to recover the heat from the outside a/c unit and use it to heat my pool. He said he has installed them to use for home hot water heating but not a pool version.
Anyway hotspotenergy.com has some heat recovery systems you can use to heat hot water for your home or pool.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

When the total budget for the bathroom pushed past 10% of the home's value we had to make some decisions and just decided everything else was more important than the tub, which was the real driver of the heater. It will still be a great bathroom, now with more storage space and lower budget, but no tub. Life goes on.

Our master bathroom has a big bathtub. We use it to water plants.

[David70]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

We need to run 2 bathrooms off it. The issue was the electric demands of a tankless heater with enough capacity to meet the needs of a large air jet tub (plus electric demands of tub) couldn't be met with our existing panel. The meter is right outside the bathroom, which is on the opposite end of the house from the panel in the garage. The cost of running another line from the meter to a new panel in the garage and then back to the bathroom was outrageous. So we'd have to add a new panel for just the bathroom outside near the meter. Could be done and cheaper than going from meter to panel and back, but still a big investment in electric. If we were doing something else where we could leverage the gas tank investment maybe that would be feasible, but we aren't, and I don't want to add another project to justify the tank.

When the total budget for the bathroom pushed past 10% of the home's value we had to make some decisions and just decided everything else was more important than the tub, which was the real driver of the heater. It will still be a great bathroom, now with more storage space and lower budget, but no tub. Life goes on.

Makes sense. Personally I don't see the benefit of a huge tub compared to the cost. The amount of time to fill it, cost to fill it and the likelyhood that someone in our family will actually use it make it unlikely we will ever spend the money for one.

Taking a bath is likely an hour long process? I will never do it.

[RickFLM4]

We thought an air jet tub would be nice to have particularly with more occasional aches and pains as we get older. We've used them when on vacation and they are nice. We actually have the space and found a tub both my wife and I could fit in together so maybe some benefits there... But not something we would use on a regular basis and not worthy of the investment under our particular circumstances. We'll use one once in a while on vacation if the room has one.

[isakhnov]

Interesting thread. Will be getting Navien unit installed later this month as a replacement for a two 50 gallon tanks. HVAC guys swears that I do not need two units so will see the end result, worst case I will link another unit.

[Katin]

Huh huh he said "hot water heater" double negative.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by isakhnov

Interesting thread. Will be getting Navien unit installed later this month as a replacement for a two 50 gallon tanks. HVAC guys swears that I do not need two units so will see the end result, worst case I will link another unit.

I can't say from personal experience, just what my plumber told me. He has a wife and 4 young daughters and never runs out of hot water with a unit like the one he put in our house.