Tank/tankless water heater for small volume?

[bryson]

I want to install a small electric water heater in my shop for hand-washing, and I can't decide which style to run.


*Use will be pretty minimal - there are times when I won't be in the shop for a week or more at a time, and when I am, it's just me and the kiddos at most.

*The unit will be heating water for a pair of sinks - one sink inside the bathroom, and a utility style sink just outside the bathroom for grubby hands.

*Volume-wise I think any of the small units will keep up just fine.

*120v or 240v are readily available.


These are 2 examples of what I'm looking at:

Tank style:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0148O65IE/ref=crt_ewc_img_huc_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Tankless:

Stiebel Eltron 074053 240V, 4.5 kW DHC 4-2 Single Sink Point-of-Use Tankless Electric Water Heater - - Amazon.com

Stiebel Eltron 074053 240V, 4.5 kW DHC 4-2 Single Sink Point-of-Use Tankless Electric Water Heater - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Anyone here have personal or professional experience on the subject?

 

[mbryson]

We have a tankless in the house. It takes a while to get hot water even in pipes that are 15-20’ from the water heater. About the time you’re done washing your hands you get hot water. If washing greasy hands that will take more than 15-20 seconds I think that tankless might be an ideal solution for a shop? Washing cars with warm/hot water is great as well

 

[Tonkaman]

I’d definitely go tankless in that application. The only downside, like mark said, is that there is no radiant heat transfer to the water in the pipe. So it can take longer for hot water to appear than your used to with the tankless.

I installed one in my moms house a couple years ago. Its pretty easy but pay attention to the venting requirements.

 

[moab_cj5]

Reach out to Zak. I'm sure he's installed multiple options and can give feedback.

 

[rholbrook]

One thing you are never told about with tankless is the maintenance required with them. They should be serviced annually. I would go with a tank type for that reason alone. Tankless sounds nice but you won’t get the heat you are wanting unless you let it run for a minute

 

[frieed]

To address the long lead time to hot water at our kitchen sink I've considered adding a ~1.5gal tank style in line with the hot water, at the sink.

 

[frieed]

Something you need to understand about tankless heaters is that they are rated for a specific temperature rise at a specific flow rate.
I scrounged up the spec sheet, and the DHC 4-2 you specified has a 52* temp rise at .5gpm. I just checked my kitchen tap and the cold water runs 48*, so if you consider 100* "hot" then you are good to go. (lower flow rates will be warmer).

 

[Unimog]

To compound that, you have to have a minimum flow to get the tankless to even fire up, so likely a drizzle won't even keep it going.

 

[Marsh99]

I have the tanked style you posted under my kitchen sink as my instant hot water. I love it and it is perfect for what I use it for. It is also easy to adjust the temperature or turn it off with the dial on the front. I did have to run new wires to dedicated outlet because I kept blowing the breaker,

 

[bryson]

I am leaning towards the tank style at the moment mostly because I don't know much about tankless, and the maintenance with them sounds lame.

Both are relatively cheap, so I suppose it isn't the end of the world if I don't like what I choose...

 

[frieed]

If you are really concerned about energy usage with a tank type, turn off the breaker when you leave the shop. It will take less than 30 min to warm up again. But honestly, tanks these days are super insulated.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I did an on-demand electric unit in my home shop. It used to work really well and I was happy with it. As of late it's not been clicking on and I have to tinker with it. Assuming it works as designed, it's a super simple option.

 

[bryson]

I ended up buying the 2.5 gallon tank style electric heater (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0148O658Y/ref=twister_B08JWBNTB6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1) because the 4 gallon model was sold out. It has yet to be installed, so no report on function yet.

 

[Kiel]

4 gallon is back in stock