OT better mousetrap

Have found a better mousetrap. My builder friend and I installed a Takagi TK-2 natural gas on demand hot water heater last month and our family loves it. It's a beautifully made thing about the size of a small suitcase that hangs on the inside wall of our house and heats water only as needed, saving significant bucks on gas. RCM types will probably fall in love with the copper heat exchanger and numerous gadgets used to monitor flow. The onboard computer is smart enough to talk to a separate thermostat so you can diagnose any problems that may arise. Total cost, including installation was around $1,500. However, our monthly electric bills have decreased about $70 for a family of four since we ditched the old electric water heater. Payback should be a couple of years from this view. Takagi and the folks who sell them say that the TK-2 is the first on demand heater that will let you run three applications at once, such as shower, dishwasher, washing machine. In practice, I think the TK-2 is actually the first residential on demand heater that will let run two. One thing you might consider whenever installing some of these new smart appliances is a bad ass surge protector. I like the "Brick Wall" ones made by a small company in San Diego. They're expensive but strike me (pun) as a whole lot more reliable than the $19.95 item from Circuit City.

Reply to
Charles Morrill
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It's nearly inaudible about ten feet away.

Reply to
Charles Morrill

NO, but I'd sure like to get some for my apartments.

Reply to
larsen-tools

I don't remember those coin operated hot water heaters. but once in England years ago I met a girl whose apartment gas meter had a coin slot in it. You had to stick a shilling in the meter to get the heat going.

Jeff (Anticipating the purient comments this post may elicit..)

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Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"I before E except after C"....(The height of insufficient weird ancient science...)

larsen-tools wrote:

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Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

They're still around. My wife spent two years in Oxford (England), and her apartment had one of these. It supplied hot water to the kitchen sink and the bathtub. Opening the water tap also opened the gas valve. It worked pretty well, and wasn't particularly noisy.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Martindale

An older friend of mine told me of the gas meter on the stove in their apartment. Coin operated. When a big dinner was planned, like thanksgiving, they would order a frozen pie, to be delivered. The pie came packed in dry ice chips that fit the coin meter very well indeed. The turkey was cooked and a pie was had for dessert.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

Coming from the UK, born after WWII, we had a unit in our kitchen that was gas-fired, on-demand, but could just run a couple of outlets as long as one of them wasn't the bath upstairs. Brand name was 'Ascot', who had been making these for thirty-odd years at least. I believe they are still available in UK, but most houses now go for central heating, and you have a separate circuit in the heating furnace for hot water, which is then stored in a separate tank, normally in the attic. Most apartments (flats) that were not on a long term lease had meters for electricity that you had to put coins in, which were a tremendous rip-off by landlords, since they were charging about three times what the electricity cost them. In the winter, you would have to keep a supply of coins in the home, just to keep warm, since it appeared that the electric could go out whenever it felt like it. There were a lot of rumours that landlords could also fix the meter so that you didn't even get the full value of the coins you put in the meter... Richard, now in Los Angeles

Reply to
Richard Medway

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