Anyone switched from electric cylinder to continuous flow gas hot water?

[F5 Dave]

We moved to a place with a Rheem, or Rinai or whatever instant.

We love it, but it ain't any cheaper, gas got more expensive eclipsing the saving. Well that said maybe the wife's showers just got longer. We did re do the kitchen feed by replacing it with a thinner pipe as the system was a ways from the kitchen. Can't tell that it limits flow & speeds up delivery somewhat than a thicker pipe.

When gas gets scarce not sure what will go for. Want to see how long modern Solar is lasting for. no point if it craps out in 10 years.

[steve_t]

Cheapest way to go is leave as is...

Excellent. Thank you for your expert opinion

[Gareth123]

yeah I have a big cylinder and I'm the only one living here. Thats why I though gas would be a good option as I never ever use heaps of hot water. Only for showers for me.

[Edbear]

Excellent. Thank you for your expert opinion

LOL!!! You know what they say about experts... I'm not an expert, just what I've heard, learned or experienced in the industry. There will be those, mainly Rinnai reps, who will swear by instant systems and perhaps for your particular needs one would work well. It really depends on how much you want to spend for possibly little gain.

[Edbear]

yeah I have a big cylinder and I'm the only one living here. Thats why I though gas would be a good option as I never ever use heaps of hot water. Only for showers for me.

If you have an older cylinder, I'd suggest getting a wrap for it and asking your power company about putting it on ripple control. For future value, should you want to sell your house, you need to have a hot water system suited to the potential number of occupants otherwise it could out people off.

[Grumph]

Depends too, which end of the day you want most of your hot water...we've got ours on a timer which heats in the early am as we use most bulk hot in the morning.
If as can happen with kids for instance you want most in the evenings, just reset the timer accordingly.
Simply changing to ripple control or a timer is probably the bigget saving you can make while staying on electricity.

[pzkpfw]

Simply changing to ripple control or a timer is probably the bigget saving you can make while staying on electricity.

I had no idea that was optional - I thought HWC were always like that.

How do I find out? Would it be on my bill? (Never looked at it).

[Edbear]

I had no idea that was optional - I thought HWC were always like that.

How do I find out? Would it be on my bill? (Never looked at it).

Just give your power company a call and they'll soon tell you if you're on it and can put you on it straight away of you're not.

[Flip]

IMHO it depends on the hot water load.

Small load (1-4 people) electric cylinder. Med load (4-8 people) LPG bottles and a large load (8+ especially teenage girls) Nat gas.

Last time I checked the $/kw goes something like electric 20c kwh, lpg14c kwh, Nat gas 12c kwh (all from memory) however there is a small cylinder rental on LPG bottles and a stupidly large fixed supply charge on piped Nat Gas supply. I used to have a calculator that calculated the right solution depending on the area the number of people and also the gas suppliers available in the area. I was the engineer for a gas company and developed the tool for the sales staff.

Oh the new Rinni's are very good. I honestly would not bother with the electronic adjustable inside thermostat, its just a gimmick. I have 3 of them and I have never had a problem with any of them.

[Edbear]

IMHO it depends on the hot water load.

Small load (1-4 people) electric cylinder. Med load (4-8 people) LPG bottles and a large load (8+ especially teenage girls) Nat gas.

Last time I checked the $/kw goes something like electric 20c kwh, lpg14c kwh, Nat gas 12c kwh (all from memory) however there is a small cylinder rental on LPG bottles and a stupidly large fixed supply charge on piped Nat Gas supply. I used to have a calculator that calculated the right solution depending on the area the number of people and also the gas suppliers available in the area. I was the engineer for a gas company and developed the tool for the sales staff.

Oh the new Rinni's are very good. I honestly would not bother with the electronic adjustable inside thermostat, its just a gimmick. I have 3 of them and I have never had a problem with any of them.

Yeah, it's that fixed daily charge that has pretty much negated the advantage we had of NG, and while I haven't done the calculation lately I doubt we're saving a lot, if anything over electricity, which is a shame as it's going to put a lot of people off going to gas. I like it as an energy source, esp for the fire as I'm over the gathering/buying firewood thing and if you have to buy firewood a log fire is too dear to run these days anyway. We've got a 260lt gas HWC and we don't run out of hot water at all.

[munster]

Our old James Hardie external gas hot water cylinder shit itself right before Xmas.

With a bit of quick research I decided on external natural gas continuous hot water. Picked up a brand new unit off trademe for $1150 (Rinnai Infinity 27L), with full 10 year manufacturers warranty. Gasfitter $600, Sparkie $150.

I found this page useful

http://www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to...heating-system

Particularly this graph.

[oldrider]

I'm interested in hearing the pro's and cons of switching over to a gas system.

I've used a gas continuous flow hot water system before and really liked it. I have no idea though whether switching over will save me any money in the long run.

We have got all three, gas califonte, wetback, electric cylinder and can switch back and forth within seconds at will!

Our power gas and fuel bills are minimal. (Two people, with family or visitors here and there)

In the summer months we use gas hot water all the time.

In spring and Autumn we alternate between gas and wetback depending on the weather.

In the winter only ever have system selected to the wetback unless we have been away and need instant hotwater, then we select the gas until the fire has been on long enough to go back to the wetback!

Just don't even bother with the electricity in fact we never have cause to turn it on!

Only use gas califonte in the garage guest onsuite hotwater! (where bikers stay)

Works for us, fuel electricity and gas bills are minimal too!

Use heat pumps to regulate the house temperature and to keep the fire from boiling the cylinder (wetback) and using too much wood.

Heatpumps are good for short periods of heating morning or night during spring or Autumn too.

Very versatile economical little house!

PS: The only thing missing is a little booster pump on the hot water line to raise the house shower pressure a bit when it is on the low pressure wetback system!

Problem is it is so close to being right I forget about having to install the pump!

[munster]

Further, on looking at our gas bill since we changed from natural gas hot water cylinder to natural gas continuous, the gas usage has definitely dropped, but the dollar amount has stayed the same since they put the bloody charges up!

[Usarka]

So you'd still be heating a tank full of hot water?

Because they feed off the cold water supply you can have a much smaller hot water cylinder. Smaller cylinder and/or not drawing on it as often = easier and cheaper to heat.

[avgas]

Just give your power company a call and they'll soon tell you if you're on it and can put you on it straight away of you're not.

I think they will also being doing "special deals" for customers to get them on smart grid. So its also worth inquiring about that.

Some of the smart grid homes have halved their power bills.