Tankless electric hot water heater

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rogerjac

Guest
I live in an apartment with limited space. I want to install a tankless electric water heater. My water comes from a tinaco so not much preasure so I will add a pump to increase the preasure to insure the water doesnt get too hot. All controlled by a wall switch to be used when showering. Has anyone seen either of these products here on the north coast. Years ago I remember seeing a heater at a store in Santiago but haven't seen one lately. Access to the required plumbing is easyily accesable in a closet behind bathroom. What do you think of my little plan. Winter is coming and that cold water on my back will likely give me a heart attack.
 
C

cavok

Guest
I've seen them, but they have very high current draw - over a 100 amps I believe, so make sure you have a breaker panel that can handle it.
 
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william webster

Guest
want to buy a 5 gal propane tank & go gas ?

You do need a certain flow rate to trigger the heater - in both cases
 
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rogerjac

Guest
The specs on the one im looking at Specifications:
Material: Stainless Steel Shell
Color: Black, Golden, Red(optional)
Power: 3400W
Current: 16A
Voltage: 110V
Rated Frequency: 50Hz
Rated Pressure: 0.4-0.6Mpa
Waterproof Grade: IPX4
Temperature: 30-55℃
Size: Approx. 20 x 10.5cm / 7.87 x 4.13inch
thats from amazon
 
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rogerjac

Guest
I had a gas one in Santiago. Worked great but it also needed a booster pump. They take up more space and need to be outside or properly vented.
 
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Cdn_Gringo

Guest
You need sufficient water pressure to activate the water heater. Because you are in an apartment, an electric heater is what you want.

You will most likely need a small water pump to boost water pressure as you have already surmised. Check the specs for the heater you are going to buy to see how much pressure is needed for the heater to work. Find a competent plumber to do the piping and tie into your hot water line. Get a crackerjack electrician to wire in the heater and install your pump switch. The appliance will need it's own 20A circuit. Do not permit the electrician to piggyback it on an existing circuit or worse, ponytail a new breaker onto an existing circuit.

The heater itself will have its own on/off toggle switch (usually on the bottom of the appliance. So you might consider installing the pump in a location that boosts the water pressure as it leaves the tinaco but before the split into hot/cold lines. This will give you the option to boost pressure to all faucets/toilets if you want to. Hot water at the kitchen sink could be useful as well as in the shower...
 
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rogerjac

Guest
its a Dominican apartment. one water line. Im not going to replumb the building. Just want warm shower this winter. Im the competent plumber and crackerjack electrician. Better than most here. The more flow the lower the tempature in this heater. Im also a better carpenter too. Last week the landlord hired a carpenter to trim a door.....he used a machete. You can imagine the results
 
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lifeisgreat

Guest
I have the electric one bought here at Luciano’s pappetera 10000 peso ...Works great and really doesn’t use much electricity .. I was going to go propane but logistics was bad...glad I did it ...
 
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ljmesg

Guest
Rated Pressure: 0.4-0.6Mpa

This translates to 58psi to 80psi.

Typical water pressure in a home in the states is 40-45psi. You may want to check what this rating actually means. I am not sure.

Max pressure at my villa is 40psi and this usually runs my hot water tank. I do not know the rating. Hot and cold mix is always problem though.

What is the water pressure in your system in psi?
 
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monfongo

Guest
You don't want to go higher then 40 lbs. of pressure with the plastic tubing here, and your right, the higher the flow rate the cooler the water if your using a on demand heater.
 
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rogerjac

Guest
I checked out the ones at Lucianos. Nice units but quite larger and more expensive than the ones I have seen on amazon. prices on amazon range from 40 to 200 bucks depending on element wattage and other features. then a booster pump will be a little more than the heater.
 
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westcan

Guest

https://watertechadvice.com/what-size-tankless-water-heater-is-best/

Everything I have read says that you need to check the flow rate of the tankless system, i.e. how many gallons of water per minute is the heater expected to heat. As well as what will be the temperature rise?

Temperature rise: You need to know how cold the incoming water is and how hot you want it to come out. You can find charts of that on the internet, basically they show the incoming water in Florida to be 77 degrees F, while as you go north the water gets colder. Assuming Sosua water is about 77 degrees, you will want to raise the temp to between 110 and 120 degrees for a hot shower, so you need to heat that water up 40 to 45 degrees F.

Apparently a shower flows at 2.5 gallons per minute, so you need a tankless heater that has a flow rate of 2.5 gpm raising the water temp by 40 to 45 degrees.

A 110V heater will not do that. From my experience with a neighbors 110V unit, it was only good for a kitchen sink, and even then you could not open the faucet at full force and have nice hot water come out. You had to reduce the water flow to get good hot water.
 
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lifeisgreat

Guest
I checked out the ones at Lucianos. Nice units but quite larger and more expensive than the ones I have seen on amazon. prices on amazon range from 40 to 200 bucks depending on element wattage and other features. then a booster pump will be a little more than the heater.
The one I got was GE quite small was concerned to small it’s 220v about 1/2 the size of briefcase.. 40 psi water pressure
 
A

AlterEgo

Guest
We have 3 in our DR home. Two were purchased in the USA, last one was bought at Ferriteria Americana on JFK in Santo Domingo. They had a large selection.
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,841
383
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I have a Lorenzetti that runs on my propane. I specifically wanted it to run on propane, bc otherwise, in this country, it makes no sense. It is highly efficient; it feeds the kitchen sink and the shower. I have it set to a very high water temperature. I live on the third floor, in a Dominican building, and water pressure is not an issue. It is mounted on my kitchen wall and measures 18"x12"x5". I bought it at Luciano in Sosua and hired a plumber to do the installation. I love this thing.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
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South Coast
I have a Lorenzetti that runs on my propane. I specifically wanted it to run on propane, bc otherwise, in this country, it makes no sense. It is highly efficient; it feeds the kitchen sink and the shower. I have it set to a very high water temperature. I live on the third floor, in a Dominican building, and water pressure is not an issue. It is mounted on my kitchen wall and measures 18"x12"x5". I bought it at Luciano in Sosua and hired a plumber to do the installation. I love this thing.

That’s the brand we have in our master bath, we love it too. Ours is propane too. However, when we lose electricity, the well pump is off, and we switch automatically to the tinaco. Pressure sometimes an issue, the unit won’t kick on, so we just ordered a small (electric) pump, which will run on the inverter. Hope it works
 

Russell

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2017
1,056
337
83
I installed a propane unit and six months later it ceased to function. It cost $14,000.00DOP at Ochoa in Santiago. I returned it to the shop and they wanted $10,000. cash to analyse the problem...so, I am not stupid ; but being a Non-Dominican I suppose they assumed I was!
I told them the problem , but that was not good enough..... so I walked out.
Upon arriving home in Luperon I fabricated a solar unit from items available at the locat hardware store...
It works well...will be investing in Solar unit when I return.
At least I can maintain them.
Russell
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
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As with lots of other electronic products, there are lots of cheap and sketchy Chinese crap available. Tankless water heaters are no exception. I also have no doubt that products returned as defective get put back on shelves for the next purchaser with or without a refurbishing.

I recommend Lorenzetti as mentioned above and the high end Rheem if price is no object. I'd steer clear of anything else.

Points of failure:

a) a leak in the heat exchanger - no replacement parts available usually so a new heater is required.
b) flow sensor - sometimes a replacement part is available at a large retailer or ferreteria
c) Gas valve - same as flow sensor
d) Piezo spark igniter - a replacement that will work can usually be found.
e) Plastic battery compartment and door - easy to replace or fix

Lorenzetti models should last a good while before something goes wrong. Try to keep them out of the rain. Clean the bugs out occasionally. If installed close to an open window, add some metal flex hose to the flue to vent the exhaust away from windows and doors. For all models you will need to provide sufficient water pressure to trip the flow sensor and the instructions will tell you what the required pressure is.

In your shower, separate hot and cold faucets work best for water temperature control. Single handle mixing valves usually do not work very well as they reduce the hot water flow on top of the pressure drop off as your pressure tank drains while in use which usually causes the heater to shut off until the pump cycles again.
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,162
757
113
...Solar...electric...propane..extra pump..new wiring...maybe a cool shower is not that bad...I have a large hot water heater and never use it for showers..and you wake up faster.....