Daily Home Renovation Tips

In Part 7 we presented, by using a wide variety of sources, information that an electric tankless water heater may be preferred to a natural gas tankless water heater.

So, who provides electric tankless water heaters?  How reliable are they? Are there any outside references from credible organizations which can attest to the reliability and performance of electric tankless water heaters which in many areas is not as common as a natural gas tankless water heater?

If I don’t have personal experience (or know someone who does) with a particular product, I need some assurance not from the company’s own web site (because anyone with access to a computer can type anything they want into the world wide web … yes, including yours truly) but from creditable organizations providing some manner of assurance that the particular product works as intended.

As a former auditor, I learned quickly that it’s better to rely on preventative controls to prevent adverse activities occurring in the first place rather than detective or after the fact controls which try and find adverse activities after they have occurred. Most vendors of most home product offer multi-year warranty. But, I’d rather have some assurance that I don’t have to rely on them. I’d rather treat them as a nice to have type of insurance.

One brand of electric tankless water heaters which has the potential (remember, I need to do more research myself) for credibility to someone like me who is not ‘in the business’ is SEISCO electric tankless water heaters.

First, the company’s web site indicates SEISCO has 5 United States patents (#6,246,831 issued June 6, 2001; #6,080,971 issued June 23, 2000; #5,866,880 issued February 2, 1999; #5,325,822 issued July, 1994; and, #5,216,743issued June, 1993) and many foreign patents for the technology used in it’s tankless water heaters. Yes, those are links to the actual U.S Patent office web site.

Second, the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) has recognized SEISCO and it’s president David Seitz “…for its early efforts with the Concept Home and subsequent Concept Home Product Partnership, and for its sponsorship of the NextGen Home“.

Third, SEISCO is a recognized PATH Manufacturer Partner and has been included in three PATH field evaluations in La Planta, Maryland; Dallas, Texas; and Lexington, North Carolina.

Fourth, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has included SEISCO electric tankless water heaters as part of it’s most recent 2008 Concept Home demonstration project  in Charleston, South Carolina.

Fifth, SEISCO electric tankless water heaters were used to provide backup heat for an “…innovative, integrated solar water and space heating system…” used within the Zero Energy House developed by the NAHB Research center and John Wesley Miller companies, and funded by the U.S Department of Energy through its National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona.

Sixth, ratification of independent studies on SEISCO electric tankless water heaters providing evidence that this product line does not cause adverse light flickering unlike other electric tankless water heaters. (see Testing & Reports  area of SEISCO web site  as well as 2008 presentation within Site Advertiser’s section containing additional more recent results).

OK …. enough already you say. There are more but quite frankly I just don’t have the energy (sorry … bad pun) right now. I think SEISCO tankless water heaters have sufficient credibility for me.

My point is this. Not all products are the same. Not all technologies are the same. Technologies are constantly evolving.

Oh, by the way, one last item of interest. See the chart below? It’s the 12 month price history of natural gas ending June 27, 2008 courtesy of NYMEX. Do you see the more than doubling of natural gas prices over the past 12 months from say $6 to $13+ MMbtu

Hmmmm….perhaps electricity as a hot water energy source, which is more and more being generated through means which do not consume non-renewable resources, might be worth taking a second look. Perhaps electric tankless water heaters from SEISCO are worth a look before we decide to spend any money on a tankless water heater.

Lastly, we were fortunate enough to receive permission from SEISCO’s President and CEO, Mr. David Seitz, to provide a link to the June 2008 presentation Why Electric Tankless Water Heaters which he deliverd at the ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economgy) Water Forum held June 2008 in Sacramento, California. It talks about some of the myths of electric tankless water heaters. Check it out and the other available presentations from the forum. 

Happy Independence Day.

To continue with the next article in this series on tankless water heaters, simply select this link to Part 9.