Electrical Appliances

[DaveM]

I have just been having a look at the gas geysers available this side and they seem very cheap. Kevin I get the impression you have one unit that does your compleat water heating for your house and these look like individual units per outlet.

Gas Water Heater

 

[otherwise]

The one that we have is like this, it heats all outlets and is mounted on an external wall.



At each hot water outlet in a convenient place we have a controller mounted to set the temperature for that type of use. For example at this time of year I shower at 38c but the kitchen is set at 55c. It's only a touch of the button to change up or down. The big saving is it only uses enough gas to get to the desired temperature rather than heating then cooling with cold water to get it down to a safe temperature.

This is a controller.

 

[DaveM]

I like this type of setup but never noticed anything like it my side, better keep looking. How much gas does it use.

Edit - I found them in SA now to find out the price Rinnai Infinity 32

Edit again - I found the price list and they are not too bad, how many hot outlets do you run on that 26 Kevin

 

[otherwise]

I like this type of setup but never noticed anything like it my side, better keep looking. How much gas does it use.

Edit - I found them in SA now to find out the price Rinnai Infinity 32

Edit again - I found the price list and they are not too bad, how many hot outlets do you run on that 26 Kevin

It's now 10.00PM so I'm not going out into the dark, behind the bushes to check the exact number, not sure if ours is a 26 or not. But we run hot outlets to,

Kitchen,
1 Dishwasher
1 Kitchen sink

Bathroom #1,
1 Shower
1 Bath
1 Vanity basin

Bathroon #2,
1 Shower
1 Vanity basin

Laundry
1 Laundry tubs
1 Washing machine

Our gas bill is very acceptable given that we use gas for, hotwater, cooktop, and in winter heating. Sorry that I don't know how much the gas for water costs.

 

[The Seeker]

LOL......your hot water heater is OUTSIDE????

That seems so bizarre to us here in Pennsylvania (and probably most of the USA).

Everyone's water heater is indoors...typically in a basement. It gets far too cold in the winter to have any plumbing exposed to the cold where it would freeze (hot water actually freezes faster than cold water). Even our water supply line has to be buried below the frost line (at least 5 feet underground) to prevent it from freezing and thus bursting the pipes.

 

[DaveM]

It's now 10.00PM so I'm not going out into the dark, behind the bushes to check the exact number, not sure if ours is a 26 or not.

No its not that importing but it look like you would be running water to about the same amount of outlets that I would also need, so I think this one may need a bit more looking into from my side to see what type of costs I would be looking at here.

 

[otherwise]

I was told when we were considering a hot water system that this type is good for 1, 2, 3 or 4 person households. With 5 or more people a storage system may be better. You don't heat, store and keep reheating large volumes of water. You don't even burn gas in a pilot flame but when you do use the water it burns a lot of gas for a short time.

 

[otherwise]

LOL......your hot water heater is OUTSIDE????

That seems so bizarre to us here in Pennsylvania (and probably most of the USA).

Everyone's water heater is indoors...typically in a basement. It gets far too cold in the winter to have any plumbing exposed to the cold where it would freeze (hot water actually freezes faster than cold water). Even our water supply line has to be buried below the frost line (at least 5 feet underground) to prevent it from freezing and thus bursting the pipes.

For us it's a bad midwinter overnight that drops to 10c. On the mountain behind us 2 or 3 nights a winter it may drop to 0c for an hour or two but pipes don't freeze (not that I know of), the temp comes back up quickly the next day.

 

[DaveM]

I was told when we were considering a hot water system that this type is good for 1, 2, 3 or 4 person households. With 5 or more people a storage system may be better. You don't heat, store and keep reheating large volumes of water. You don't even burn gas in a pilot flame but when you do use the water it burns a lot of gas for a short time.

Yeah well we have three people in our house so it should work. The thing is it is a bit pricy to install and find out it just does not work for me. How does it do in winter as we get down to around 7c at night this side at times

 

[otherwise]

Yeah well we have three people in our house so it should work. The thing is it is a bit pricy to install and find out it just does not work for me. How does it do in winter as we get down to around 7c at night this side at times

Dave you should talk to a SA installer. If I lived on the mountain behind us I'd still go with the same system. You don't get pipe freeze like AJ and the system can produce up to 55c at the tap, that's VERY hot.
I just love getting into the shower and saying I want such and such a temp, push the button and you get exactly that temp. The system uses the exact amount of gas to get to target and when the tap is turned off you stop spending money. I've noticed many new builds in this area are now using it.

 

[DaveM]

I have emailed them and I am waiting on a response so if they in my area I will get them to give me a quote and see where I stand with something like this. Do me a favor when you in the yard just check and see what modle you have

 

[otherwise]

I have emailed them and I am waiting on a response so if they in my area I will get them to give me a quote and see where I stand with something like this. Do me a favor when you in the yard just check and see what modle you have

Ours is an "Infinity 26". I just spoke to the company that sell and install, told them I was asking for a friend from our highlands (temp gets as low as yours). He said the "26" is still the one to get for a 3 person family and they have an anti-frost system built in.

Edit,
Thinking back to when ours was installed, the plumber said it works best if the gas line is large up to the heater and always mount as close as reasonable to the point of water take off to save heat loss on way to tap, but that's the same for any system.
Your plumber should tell you all of that stuff.

 

[DaveM]

Yes you could also insulate the pipes to stop heat reduction. The problem is I have my bathrooms on either side of the house so midway would be the place to install something like this

 

[DaveM]

Well I got a reply back from them and they do not do them in my city. However they can send me one and I could get a local company to install it. They also mentioned they sell the Atlas 20lt and it is a lot cheaper.

We can get the Rinnai units or we have the new Atlas 20lt which works the same way as the Rinnai and it is a lot cheaper.
The Atlas 20lt is R4995 incl VAT and the control panel, the Rinnai 20lt is R7700 with the control panel.

 

[devo]

Yes you could also insulate the pipes to stop heat reduction. The problem is I have my bathrooms on either side of the house so midway would be the place to install something like this

The cost of installing an indoor model is way more than that of an outdoor model Dave.
My mate just found that out as he had to mount his indoors cos he lives on the waterfront.

 

[otherwise]

Quote,
"Well I got a reply back from them and they do not do them in my city. However they can send me one and I could get a local company to install it. They also mentioned they sell the Atlas 20lt and it is a lot cheaper."

And,

"We can get the Rinnai units or we have the new Atlas 20lt which works the same way as the Rinnai and it is a lot cheaper.
The Atlas 20lt is R4995 incl VAT and the control panel, the Rinnai 20lt is R7700 with the control panel."


Dave, I have a very good plumber who had never fitted one before but because he is a real tradesman (not just an installer) figured it out in a flash and did a good job. So a kit sent to you may not be an issue if you find and firstly talk to a tradesman. My supplying company said to go 26 not 20 but local conditions vary so talk to a few people before you act.

The email from the supplier talks about "a" control panel in the singular. You require a min of 2 and from what you've told me about your family set up probably 3. The kitchen works best with the temp cranked up the bathroom much lower and with only 1 controler you'd be walking from room to room before you turned a tap on.

 

[The Seeker]

I'm not bragging when I say I am a heck of a good plumber. I've installed lots of indoor hot water heaters and put plumbing into a house that never had any (former Amish house).

If you fly me there, I'll do the work for just good food and a few beers!

 

[Sea Dog]

It really works great and is cheap to purchase as well

View attachment 4294

Hey Dave. How about you and the missus come over for dinner tonight. Bring the convection oven filled up just like the picture and I will supply the Ozzie wine.....red or white?