Electric tankless water/heaters

[jseddy]

Wasn't sure where to post this.

Anyone have any experience with these things? Obviously I'm looking for leaks, but the one I just ran into was installed inside (behind the sheetrock) the wall underneath a basement bar/sink. Temp was running in excess of 130F. and there was no way to lower it w/o opening the wall. Seems like a heating element that hot would be a fire hazard. It's electric and must be tied in to the circuit(no plug or switch).

The whole instalation seems wrong to me but electrical is my big weakness I'm working on.

Any coments would help.

[Jim Morrison]

Was it an instant hot water maker? Like the ones you occasionally see in a kitchen sink, primarily used for making tea?

[jseddy]

I'm assuming that's what it is. Apparently there are 4 & 6 gallon mini-tank heaters as well but I doubt they could be hidden within a wall. The current owner didn't install it.

[jseddy]

Mike,

thanks that's great. I measured the temp at the faucet. It was immediately hot to nearly scalding and I made mention of it to learn there was an electric heater involved. I checked under the sink and it's not visable, apparently placed in the wall. I could not track any wiring or where it tied into the plumbing. However there is a washroom/mud room opposite the shared wall. Nothing though I suspect the wall had been padded out. Obviously it's not servicable if needed.

I'm a newb at this and I'm taking a mentor to get settled in, so I was tagging along. The inspector didn't seem more concered than just making a note of it. Something just didn't seem right to me so good time to educate myself.

[homnspector]

My experience with these (limited) is you will not get 130 degree water. You are lucky if it is even warm. You could turn on the water and check the elec meter, it should be spinning off its bearings if the water is that hot and it is tankless.

[Jim Morrison]

Mike,

I only see the electric ones around here and they are almost always unable to produce anything warmer than 100 degrees unless they are new.

[homnspector]

Like I said, "limited experience", I have maybe run across 5 electric ones. I bought a Bosch propane model back in the mid 1980's. It was a piece of crap. Had a flow sensor that would shut the unit down if water flow was low. Try to take a shower (mixing cold and hot) and the unit would constantly turn on and off. Hopefully they are better these days.

[jseddy]

Well, you could definitely cook Ramen noodles with this water.

I'm assuming(yet again, I'll get to researching what you provided Hausdok) it's roughly the same as those hot/cold watercoolers. I found a trade magazine at work, Building Component Magazine, and apparently there are now industrial size as well as portable units and eemax is soliciting builders in some areas, which gets me to wondering. The house I ran into this was a 5 year old track builder.

[homnspector]

I may have misread your post. Is this a instant hot with a separate tap at the sink? they are dang hot! They have a small storage tank (maybe a pint or so) and are for coffee or tea.