orangezero
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2020
- Messages
- 86
I understand the general idea "electric hot water heaters" are inefficient and also often require expensive wire upgrades and maybe larger breakers, or even special 240v circuits. People usually learn about it and get disillusioned.
I've watched more youtube van/rv/camper/offgrid videos than I care to admit. I've never seen anyone have all-electric setup with a lot of solar, and then use an inverter to have a small point-of-use electric hot water faucet.
Lowes and Home Depot and Amazon have a device called "Atmor hotap" that is 3kw, needs a 30amp breaker, and is hardwired. They also sell a slightly smaller 1.8kw "Atmor comfortap" that has a more simple wall plug. I think it was around 0.5gpm, fine for handwashing.
Considering some offgriders are okay just heating water in a black pvc pipe, I'm wondering if these $100-120 would have some use? I at least like that the hardware stores sell them. You can find $40-80 devices online that are similar but seem to always have bad reviews. I think it is mostly expectations. An entire house needs a HUGE amount of power to be able to run a tankless electric heater while one person showers and others need heat. 18kw, etc. Inverters for that would be nasty to contemplate.
In my specific scenario, I already have a 20-30gallon electric hot water heater at my office. My power bill is way too much at my place of business, and can't help but think the two places I need hot water could really be more efficient if I just had two of these faucets installed. No showers. I don't need scalding water. I need warm water to wash hands in a bathroom. I'd guess my groundwater is somewhere around 50-55F. As I type this, the dumb electric heater is keeping a tank of water warm even though we rarely use it. In the summer it just increases my cooling costs as well as it heats up the room its in. Couldn't convert to gas because there is no place to vent.
I put my thoughts on this forum because it seems like a potentially nice, small, point-of-use, which may fit in an offgrid system. I could upgrade my faucets at the office anyway, and in this case that is included in the price. There are other larger heaters but those wouldn't work as well in my situation. Maybe better for the rest of you as they ramp up in kw rather inexpensively.
Thoughts?
I've watched more youtube van/rv/camper/offgrid videos than I care to admit. I've never seen anyone have all-electric setup with a lot of solar, and then use an inverter to have a small point-of-use electric hot water faucet.
Lowes and Home Depot and Amazon have a device called "Atmor hotap" that is 3kw, needs a 30amp breaker, and is hardwired. They also sell a slightly smaller 1.8kw "Atmor comfortap" that has a more simple wall plug. I think it was around 0.5gpm, fine for handwashing.
Considering some offgriders are okay just heating water in a black pvc pipe, I'm wondering if these $100-120 would have some use? I at least like that the hardware stores sell them. You can find $40-80 devices online that are similar but seem to always have bad reviews. I think it is mostly expectations. An entire house needs a HUGE amount of power to be able to run a tankless electric heater while one person showers and others need heat. 18kw, etc. Inverters for that would be nasty to contemplate.
In my specific scenario, I already have a 20-30gallon electric hot water heater at my office. My power bill is way too much at my place of business, and can't help but think the two places I need hot water could really be more efficient if I just had two of these faucets installed. No showers. I don't need scalding water. I need warm water to wash hands in a bathroom. I'd guess my groundwater is somewhere around 50-55F. As I type this, the dumb electric heater is keeping a tank of water warm even though we rarely use it. In the summer it just increases my cooling costs as well as it heats up the room its in. Couldn't convert to gas because there is no place to vent.
I put my thoughts on this forum because it seems like a potentially nice, small, point-of-use, which may fit in an offgrid system. I could upgrade my faucets at the office anyway, and in this case that is included in the price. There are other larger heaters but those wouldn't work as well in my situation. Maybe better for the rest of you as they ramp up in kw rather inexpensively.
Thoughts?
