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Curious Readers Want to Know

Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 21:01 CDT

Jul. 24--Building Products magazine, a leading consumer trend periodical for homeowners and builders, publishes an annual Top 100 list of home products and materials readers want to know more about. The items range from standby generators to decorative sinks, but this year readers were most intrigued by tankless water heaters. Among the top 15 queries, different companies' water heaters made the list five times.

Tankless water heaters have been popular in Europe and Asia for decades. Manufacturers and distributers say they offer substantial advantages over conventional tanks such as a lower operating cost, better energy efficiency and space savings.

"People want to buy them because with some models they can control the water temperature in separate areas," said Shelly Balley, a customer service representative for Burton & Sons Plumbing & Heating in Garden City. She said her company has installed a lot more tankless heaters in the past year.

"Many people also like them because of the way they're stored. There's not a big tank. A lot of times people just read about them and want to buy one."

Here's how they work: Instead of constantly using energy sources to heat, store and reheat gallons and gallons of water in a basement tank, tankless systems flash-heat water as it's needed by passing it through a heat exchanger. Like the tank systems, a tankless system can be heated with gas, oil, propane, electricity or solar energy.

The price for a large, whole-house tankless model is $2,000 to $5,000 depending on size and difficulty of installation, but many buyers rave about the utility cost savings, Balley said.

By comparison, Burton sells a no-frills, 40-gallon conventional water heater for $745, installation included.

"On a monthly basis I get three or four calls from people inquiring about them, but then they hear the price," Balley said. "I think people who have higher incomes will eventually go toward them, but on an average household wage they are going to stay with a standard hot water tank."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, water heating accounts for 20 percent or more of an average household's annual energy expenditures. Yearly operating costs for conventional gas or electric storage tank water heaters average $200 to $800. Standby losses -- the heater operating periodically to maintain the water temperature even if no hot water is drawn from the tank -- represent 10 percent to 20 percent of a household's annual water heating costs. Manufacturers estimate a tankless model will cut operating costs 25 percent to 45 percent and pay for itself within the first year.

Not everyone is sold on tankless water heaters, though. Marlene Casler, manager of GSA Water Heater Service in Westland, said in the past three or four years they've made more service calls for tankless heaters. The callbacks are a clear indication that more people are buying them, Casler said, but they have been a thorn in her side because she gets complaints from consumers who are unhappy about their inability to supply enough hot water to a busy home.

"Honestly, tankless water heaters scare me," Casler said. "They only can produce a set amount of hot water, and often can't keep up. Most of them have five to seven gallons of water flow per minute. It's causing issues when consumers want to do simultaneous activities such as showers, doing the laundry and using the dishwasher. If you have a five-gallon permanent flow, and you require a 12-gallon permanent flow, you don't have the hot water to provide for those two needs."

Building Products readers were very interested in standby generators. Different brands made the Top 100 list four times. Many are designed to power sump pumps, furnaces, refrigerators and computers when the power goes out.

Standby generators typically run on natural gas or liquid propane and are the size of a standard backyard air conditioning unit. They are installed outside and wired into the breaker box. Some come with transfer switches that sense when power has been lost, and they can maintain power for as long as an outage lasts. Prices range from $4,000 to more than $20,000.

Readers also were intrigued by quieter bathroom ventilation systems that reduced mold, mildew and other pollutants. The draw is the sound control when compared to older and noisier fans. The new systems cost $20 to $150 and can have humidity sensors.

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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