"TANKS
FOR THE OPTION"
|
"TANKS
FOR THE OPTION"
|
        |
|
TANKLESS Tankless Water Heater Product Guide Tankless Water Heater Applications Tankless Water Heater Electrical Guide Tankless Water Heater Installation Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons Tankless Water Heaters Service Guide
|
Welcome to the Home of the Every homebuilder attempts to demonstrate to his prospective buyer, not only that he offers him or her value in pricing, but also and even more important that he has built a high quality, energy efficient home, which is designed to optimize life style. These features are often extremely difficult to demonstrate to the consumer over the competition. Home builders also know the value of appliances, which have strong brand name recognition and high-perceived value to the consumer. Up until recently the lowly water heater has been ignored except for the benefits of high recovery, cost effective, but not energy efficient, GAS storage tank heaters. If we have all learned anything over this last year, it's that we can forget inexpensive gas prices. With the demand for natural gas growing, particularly in its use for electric generating plants, even for the new fuel cell technologies, and globally to replace environmentally unpopular fuels such as coal, there is no reason for natural gas prices per Btu to be priced lower than electric. In fact with the huge demand for gas, it is becoming all too common for gas prices, per Btu, to be higher than electric. In water heating, there has and never will be a question that the electric water heater is more energy efficient than gas. Since gas prices per unit of heat (Btu) are equal or higher that electricity, electric water heaters, today, can cost less than gas to operate,. Still, in the past, the gas water heater provided more hot water because its higher heating capacity provided much faster recovery. The electric tankless water heater has breached this gap, and because of its inherently high efficiency has generated a very high level of consumer awareness and interest. The homebuilder, today, who is not offering as his standard water heater, a well-designed tankless water heating system, as is available from the SEISCOĻ, is truly missing many important opportunities. THE SEISCO, ULTRA HIGH EFFICIENT, ENDLESS "TANKLESS" WATER HEATING SYSTEM SHOULD BE OFFERED AS THE STANDARD, AND THE STORAGE TANK HEATER OFFERED AS AN OPTION. The following clearly demonstrate the reasons why. DON'T JUST TALK QUALITY, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, AND LIFESTYLE. USE THE NEW INNOVATIVE AND PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENJOY HIGH CONSUMER AWARENESS AND PERCEIVED VALUE TO PROVE YOUR CASE. ENERGY COSTS AND LIFESTYLE are uppermost in the minds of every prospective homebuyer. Whether you are building mansions or manufactured housing it will be critically important that you can demonstrate to your customer that your home's designs address these concerns. COMMITMENT TO QUALITY is a statement that is easy to say, but often more difficult to demonstrate. The consumer today expects more than just words. How you set yourself apart from your competition is these areas will, in great part, determine success. ENDLESS AND ABUNDANT HOT WATER from the most energy efficient and cost effective designs make two extremely strong statements to any family. "Unquestionable lifestyle enhancement and energy savings." TANK WATER HEATERS are not only an expensive, but also quickly becoming an obsolete means for providing a family's hot water requirements. It is a well-known fact that water heating represents up to 20% of the family's total utility costs. NO ONE WANTS TO RUN OUT OF HOT WATER and no one likes waiting for it. The opportunity for better designs that bring the hot water source closer to the major areas of use is very important but difficult and expensive to do using tank type heaters. THE TANKLESS WATER HEATER technology, long recognized globally as the most energy efficient and cost effective means for providing domestic hot water, has finally reached the level of proven utility, such that when designed correctly as a system (think HVAC not tanks) will satisfy even the most demanding applications. SOME EARLY ATTEMPTS FAILED to prove totally satisfactory
but over time even these failures have been recognized as being the result
of: Even with these early shortcomings, performance and focus group studies have proven that the SEISCOĻ tankless product produced a higher level of consumer satisfaction that those from tank heaters. MORE BUILDERS ARE LEARNING EACH DAY how to use the tankless system designs properly. They are also learning the high-perceived value of his homebuyer for an abundant, endless, rapidly delivered, less expensive hot water supply. PRICE POINT ISSUES?? WOULD YOUR CUSTOMER RATHER PAY UP TO MORE THAN DOUBLE THE AMOUNT EACH MONTH TO THE UTILITY FOR HOT WATER than the small additional increase in his monthly payment for a SEISCO Tankless Water Heating System? The savings are real and no one has to take your word or ours. Government and industry studies, along with the laws of physics, demonstrate that with today's cost of energy, savings of over $100 per year are not unusual. (See Appendix "A" Table 1, "Comparison of Estimated Annual Water Heating Costs") The SEISCO, even after adding in a 30% profit for the builder, will normally add only $4.00 to $6.00 per month in the financed cost of the home. GIVE YOUR CUSTOMER THE OPTION OF DOWNGRADING FROM THE SEISCO as the standard, to a tank water heater. At the small difference in initial costs, very, very few will accept the tank option. Additionally, when you are dealing with such important basic lifestyle products, it not only doesn't make sense to start with the lower performance product such as the tank heater, but also when one does, it gives the appearance of a car salesman asking his customer if he wants to upgrade to a model that has wheel covers. Give your sales force the opportunity to demonstrate the quality and benefits of your home's state of the art water heating design, adding instant support and added credibility to every other feature of your home. NOW COMPARE TOTAL INSTALLED COSTS FOR TANKLESS TO: 1. Gas tank heaters: A great many homebuilders have been using gas tank heaters. When you compare the real costs of installing a gas tank heater the installed cost for the Tankless SEISCO is very competitive. (See Appendix "A" Table 3 " Tankless Water Heater Installation Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons---") 2. Electric tank heaters: The cost difference is the greatest currently but when the DOE's new energy standards take effect in 2004; this difference will be all but eliminated. (See article in "Energy Design Update" 2/01.) If the builder is able to eliminate a water heater closet or special enclosure this will represent even more savings. START TODAY BY SETTING A STANDARD AND GIVING YOUR BUSINESS AN EDGE. OFFER YOUR CUSTOMER THE SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS OF A SYSTEM SO BASIC AND YET SO IMPORTANT TO EVERY FAMILY, ENDLESS HOT WATER AND ENERGY SAVINGS. HAVING ALL THE HOT WATER YOU NEED WHEN YOU WANT IT AND FOR AS LONG AS YOU NEED IT SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTION IN ANY HOME TODAY. Appendix "A"
Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons NOTES AND ASSUMPTIONS We continue to be asked to provide a broad range of Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons between the SEISCO, storage-tank electric and gas water heaters. Often the consumer asks us to relate our statements to the "Estimated Energy Cost" as shown on the storage-tank water heater labels. The Label and the Real World Sometimes Differ It's important that the reader understand that labeling is required for certain appliances to conform to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Tests have been developed to estimate the energy efficiency and cost of operations for certain classes of water heaters. While the test protocol is intended to provide a method for a fair means of energy Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons, the parameters and protocol for these tests have forever been questioned or challenged. The problem in using such comparisons is that the testing has been established under specific laboratory conditions most of which can and do vary substantially in actual applications. Most important is the fact that some variations in actual application will effect the energy efficiency and operating costs of one class of water heater more than another. Very often the type heater and its location result in substantial increase in the air-conditioning or heating costs for the home. The following segments serve as examples. 1Unlike the laboratory test conditions, the BTU content for a therm (100,000 BTUs) of natural gas will vary from area to area. Areas whose natural gas has a lower BTU content than used in the laboratory testing will consume more gas thus cost more money heating water. 2 The incoming water temperature, from which the DOE test calculations are being made, has been established at 57° F. In many parts of the U.S. one does not normally experience inlet water temperatures (delivered to the fixture) this cold year round. 3 The ambient air temperature in which the water heater is tested is 68° F. Again, there are many Tankless Water Heater Installations, varying widely geographically, such as in a crawl space, basement, or attic where this temperature does not represent a genuine average ambient temperature. 4 The storage-tank gas heater has to be vented. So long as the heater is placed outside the living area of the home, venting doesn't have a negative effect on other energy costs. In a very large percentage of the homes in the U.S., however, gas heaters are located in the living area and, as such, allow conditioned air, air that one has paid to heat or cool, to be forced out of the home. The conditioned air, that is lost, is replaced by infiltration of air drawn into the home from the outside, requiring additional heat or air-conditioning to heat or cool this outside replacement air. Furthermore, a fuel burning water heater will give off considerable heat to the inside of a home by virtue of the pilot and the hot vent. The vent itself reaches temperatures of 300° F above the inside temperature of the home. The effect of these conditions adds to the heating or air-conditioning cost. These costs are not added or even estimated in the energy label on a gas fired water heater. Imagine putting a 3" hole in your roof, and periodically heating a six-foot pipe to 375° F for the 2.5-3 hours per day your water heater is heating, in use or recovery. This hole in the roof is approximately equivalent to a 12" window left open one half inch 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Additional Energy Cost Estimates and
Issues.
One very reliable source in the Energy Conservation Department of the California Energy Commission prepared a paper on gas water-heating costs. He developed a spreadsheet program for estimating the operating costs for gas storage-tank water heaters located outside the home and not in a conditioned space. The program assumes a household using 64.5 gallons of hot water daily, (DOE daily estimated hot water usage per household). With natural gas cost currently at $1.20 per therm of gas, the estimated operating costs for a 50-gallon gas tank heater is over $400 per year. SEISCO HAS NO HIDDEN COSTS! In reality, depending upon the climate and water temperatures, actual water heating costs for a 50-gallon gas heater could be less than $350 or more than $400 per year, even without including the impact of vent and stack loss on space heating and air-conditioning. Conservative calculations for the additional cost related to the loss of conditioned air to exceed an additional $100 per year. The energy efficiency (AFUE), as the consumer understands the term, for most commonly installed electric storage-tank heaters is approximately 88%. The same efficiency for a comparable standard gas fired water heater is 54%. The efficiency for a SEISCO "flow-through" water heating system is over 99%. In 1997, a study was done by an independent consulting firm in College Station, Texas to compare the operating costs of a new 40gallon storage-tank electric water heater against the SEISCO. The test was done in January of l997. The results of this winter test indicated a monthly cost for heating water with the SEISCO, in this city during the month of January, to be less than $15.00 and a 26% savings over the 40 gal. electric storage tank water heater. Gas water heaters become less efficient with use, particularly in areas of hard water. Scale builds up on the walls of the tanks and mineral deposits collect at the bottom of the tank, both acting as insulation, reducing the efficiency for the transfer of heat from the burner to the water. SEISCO ALLOWS YOU TO SAVE ENERGY AND WATER TOO! Studies have indicated a normal household will draw varying amounts of hot water, turning the faucet off and on over 40 times daily. The normal flow rate from a faucet drawing hot water is estimated at 1.50 gallons per minute. There are obviously times and uses, such as the washing machine, when this draw is higher. At this nominal flow rate, assuming a wait for the hot water of an average of only 20 seconds, one half a (1/2) gallon of water is wasted. The total hot water wasted daily for 40 such draws would be at least 20 gallons. A great many households people experience much longer waits, and therefore more hot water is wasted, particularly in the winter. It has been determined by independent sources that an average home will waste approximately 10,000 gallons of water per year running it down the drain waiting for hot water. Keep in mind that the water you draw out of the hot water faucet was originally delivered from the water heater. At one time this same water had been heated only to later cool down in a long run of pipes. By locating the SEISCO central to the major points of use, the estimated reduction in wasted hot water is 40% being 4,000 gallons per year and almost 11 gallons per day. The cost to heat this 4,000 gallons of water from 65° F. to 135° F., in an electric storage-tank heater (88% efficient) at $.084/kWh, is $65.00. The savings which are estimated in the following comparisons between the estimated cost of various types of water heaters includes an estimate of only 10 gallons saved as a result of one's ability to locate the SEISCO central to the major points of hot water usage. Assumptions to Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons Tables. The following tables 1-3 are intended to represent a fair comparison for the estimate of the cost of heating water through the use of a SEISCO, a 50-gallon electric, a 50-gallon natural gas and 50-gallon LPG storage-tank heaters. The assumptions are as follows: 1 The yearly average temperature for the incoming
water is 65° F. A Initially at 64 gal. for each.
D Utility costs are based on $0.084/kWh, $1.10/therm Nat. Gas and $1.60 gal. for LPG.
A calculation of a conservative estimate of the impact stack, vent losses as well as combustion air requirements to additional heating and air conditioning costs (additional heating or cooling costs: A.H.C.) resulting from locating a gas storage-tank heater within the homes conditioned air space. (basement) TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF ANNUAL WATER HEATING COSTS Estimated Costs Based on Normal Usage: Operating cost will vary based on many factors including the local cost for electricity or gas, the Tankless Water Heater Installation location and size of the storage tank heater, and total hot water use.
*A.H.C. refers to additional heating and cooling costs associated with the stack or vent loss of conditioned air. TABLE 2 Estimated Annual Operating Cost for each type in the "Standby Mode" BEFORE THE FIRST DROP OF WATER HAS BEEN USED.
SEISCO: 131.kWh at $0.084/kWh:……$11.00
50 gal. electric storage-tank:…………….$60.00-$80.00 50 gal. natural gas storage-tank:……….$140.00-$180.00 75 gal. natural gas storage-tank:……… .$175.00-$205.00 50 gal. LPG gas storage-tank:…………..$200.00-$250.00
TABLE 3 Tankless Water Heater Installation Tankless Water Heater Cost Comparisons BETWEEN THE SEISCO AND STORAGE-TANK TYPE HEATERS.
* Seisco: 4- 240 volt circuits @ $40. Here we are estimating a lower cost for each circuit than in the following electric 50 gallon because of the low cost of material and ease of running the extra circuits. Electric Storage Tank: A single 240 volt circuit. Typical price for single 240 amp circuit. Same is true for an electric dryer circuit. Natural Gas 50 gal. Direct Power Vented: A single 120-volt circuit. Natural Gas 75 gal. Direct Power Vented: Same
The SEISCO is an extraordinary and revolutionary new water heating system that has achieved what others have unsuccessfully attempted for years. SEISCO's technology opens the way for new design options for all water heating applications including space heating. There are a great many other issues that are favorably impacting the acceptance and use of SEISCO type electric water heating systems including the current deregulation of electric utilities in the U.S., rapidly rising energy costs particularly gas. The global movement for reduction of the burning of fossil fuels is expected to create energy shifts and new technologies. These issues, although very significant, are so broad and complex that they can only be noted at this time. |
|
|
Home
|| Tankless
Company Introduction || Tankless
Patent Information || Tankless Distribution
|| Contact Us & LINKS || Web
site designed by Michael Shaw Design ©2001 940-498-9700 All right reserved by Microtherm Inc. ©2001 |
