Should Laundromats Install Tankless Heaters?

Time and again I see questions about tankless water heaters. Sometimes related to new store construction but most often in reference to water heater replacement needs. I intend to address in this article the most common confusions.

BENEFITS OF TANKLESS HEATERS

  1. Often the cost of tankless heaters is less than using the traditional storage tank, recirculation pump and heater used in many Laundromats. The rule of thumb for number of tankless heaters needed is one heater for every $10,000.00 of gross income from your washers and dryers.
  2. It’s easy with tankless heaters to add additional heaters if volume increases and corresponding not water demand. Always have your plumber do the piping to add an additional one or two heaters. No need to buy them if they are not needed, but very cheap to increase heating capacity if you’re fortunate to have a big increase in business.
  3. The space required is significantly less than the traditional heating package. It’s just hung on a wall. Storage space under the heaters is possible.
  4. There is no huge storage tank constantly bleeding off heat, which then has to be reheated again and again when not used. This results in lower natural gas bills for tankless heaters.
  5. The ease of replacement is easy. No need to tear out doorways and walls to replace a leaking tank or leaking water heater. Just lift it off its mounting bracket and install a new heater.
  6. When a water system fails, a tankless heater is very easy to replace. A tankless system is normally constructed with two to six heaters hung on a backroom wall. Properly piped, each unit can be shut off and replaced without having to completely shut down the water heating process. It is likely only one heater will fail at a time.
  7. Some brands of tankless heaters have models that include a circulation pump if the Laundromat owner is concerned that the first customer in the morning will receive only warm because the water has cooled in the water lines going to the washer banks. With front load washers this issue has moved to an almost non-issue status since customers cannot put their hands into the tub to feel the water. The practice of insulating hot water lines throughout Laundromats today does maintain hot water longer in your hot water pipes so circulation pumps are often not used in new construction to reduce ongoing energy use.

NEGATIVES OF TANKLESS HEATERS

  1. Smaller tubes inside the tankless heater leads to the need to delime the heaters every year or so. Properly installed with shutoffs and a small acid proof pump ($150.00) and cleaning vinegar or professional deliming solution and a half hour takes care of most problems.
  2. Another problem is installers who use the wrong brand (home use tankless) and charge outrageous prices to plumb in the heaters.
  3. Most people who view them negativity relates to deliming their heaters. Few owners understand that all water heaters develop lime buildup in the interior of their pipes and especially those pipes that are exposed to direct heat. Hard water (mineral enriched) will lay down in both traditional heaters and tankless heaters. Larger pipes in traditional heaters only means it takes longer to clog. Both types need to delimed on a regular basis. The lime and mineral buildup inside the heater acts as an insulation which reduces the transfer of heat from the flame to the water. Over time standard water heaters will require more and more firing time to maintain temperature levels but this loss of efficiency is not as readily noticed in tanks with larger piping found in traditional heaters.
  4. To reduce the frequency of service on your heaters, buy a tankless heater with stainless steel heat exchanger (such as some models of Navien heaters.)

ADDITIONAL POINTS OF WATER HEATERS

The best way to discover how quickly to determine when you should delime any water heater is to drill a small hole in the exhaust vent and insert a meat thermometer when you first install your heating system. The temperature recorded will increase as more and more minerals are laid down inside your pipes. This is a terrible waste of energy as the heat is going out the exhaust and not being transferred to the water. I don’t leave the thermometer in all the time, I remove and cover the little hole with metal tape. I can then check all my heaters with a single thermometer on a periodic basis. This removes the guesswork out of heater maintenance and can be used on any gas fired water heating system.

Hope this helped people understand water heating systems and ultimately save Laundromat owners some money. Please add any additional information anyone might have on this subject.