Tank-less Water Heater Help Needed

[ALMO]

I currently have two 240V 80-gallon hot water tanks piped together. My electricity bill came in and WOW!! I was floored. So, I am going to turn one of them off in the meantime as I don't need both running at the same time.

I want to convert to a tank-less system. I am looking for advice as to which ones to purchase.
I have a 3 bay SS car wash. I run weep, foam brush, wax and soap with hot water. How many do I need?

Thanks for the help.

 

[borumrm]

I currently have two 240V 80-gallon hot water tanks piped together. My electricity bill came in and WOW!! I was floored. So, I am going to turn one of them off in the meantime as I don't need both running at the same time.

I want to convert to a tank-less system. I am looking for advice as to which ones to purchase.
I have a 3 bay SS car wash. I run weep, foam brush, wax and soap with hot water. How many do I need?

Thanks for the help.

Do you recirculate your hot water used for weep? If not you probably should consider setting up trough heat system to eleiminate the weep. I use a Tagasaki (sp) gas unit .... actually have two of them but I have two automatics and 6 self serve bays. They do well....gas is much cheaper than electric.

 

[Earl Weiss]

1. Do you use a weepmizer?
2. You don't need to weep straight hot water and can vary the weep temp depending on outside temp. You might want to "T" in a cold water line and put a valve before the "T" on the hot water line to reduce the amount of hot water used. (Note: at one location I needed to put in a check valve to keep the cold from going backward thru the hot water line to the heater.)

 

[ToFarGone]

I have all Rinnai's...been about 8 years since install. Work great and save money. Their customer service has been excellent and they have stood behind their machine. Nothing major wrong with them...a stuck valve and I needed to buy a couple filters.

 

[packerscw]

Let alone weeping water is to expensive now a days. weeping hot water is even MORE expensive. look into getting rid of your weep water or dont weep hot water.

 

[MEP001]

I set up a 4-bay SS with a single Paloma instant heater. I set the Paloma to 160° and used a mixing valve after it to bring the temp down to around 120° and it worked great. Just to see if it would keep up, we also tried running the Paloma straight and set at 120° and it could almost keep up with all 4 bays running. It restricts the flow to maintain its set pressure, but it took more than 10 minutes before the holding tank got close to empty.

 

[Tpoppa]

I weep cold water.

 

[mjwalsh]

more efficient units & potential value in warm weep

I currently have two 240V 80-gallon hot water tanks piped together. My electricity bill came in and WOW!! I was floored. So, I am going to turn one of them off in the meantime as I don't need both running at the same time.

I want to convert to a tank-less system. I am looking for advice as to which ones to purchase.
I have a 3 bay SS car wash. I run weep, foam brush, wax and soap with hot water. How many do I need?

Thanks for the help.

Almo & others,

If you can keep your costs down like Mep's example, I see potential value with a properly controlled warmer weep. Check some previous posts on tank less because there appears to be much more efficient tankless units available now than the older units.

I am basing warm water gain on the fact that we always warm up our lines before blow out with our warmer soap water. It definitely helps prevent the nozzle from forming an ice plug .... from the air wizzzing through during blow out.

So it seems to be a fair conclusion that there could be a worthwhile gain!

mike walsh from north dakota

 

[ALMO]

I am using a Weepmizer to weep only hot water. I have not T-eed in cold water. Good idea though. I don't recirculate any water at all.

There are a lot of different brands out there. Paloma seems to be pretty popular for commercial applications.

I'm still learning this business and this is a great place to learn.

Thanks guys!!

 

[ALMO]

I set up a 4-bay SS with a single Paloma instant heater. I set the Paloma to 160° and used a mixing valve after it to bring the temp down to around 120° and it worked great. Just to see if it would keep up, we also tried running the Paloma straight and set at 120° and it could almost keep up with all 4 bays running. It restricts the flow to maintain its set pressure, but it took more than 10 minutes before the holding tank got close to empty.

MEP,
Can you please post a pic of how your weep is setup?

 

[packerscw]

Why do so many wash operators and owners WEEP still, let alone WEEP hot water???

 

[packerscw]

If many operators are using there weep lines as a way of keeping there trough warm by weeping hot water, then look into hooking into your floor heat or installing a small hot water tank with a circulating pump. It will save you a boat load in energy because you will not have to heat your weep water just to keep your trough warm.

 

[MEP001]

MEP,
Can you please post a pic of how your weep is setup?

I'm in Texas - weep is nothing more than a solenoid controlled by a thermostat with a separate check valve feeding each bay line with cold water. It might run 3 days a year, so
there's no need for anything more.