Hello All,
We have bought a house with a 30 gallon hot water heater (all electric house). There is a big jaccuzi tub which requires a 60 gallon hwh, according to the manual. We are on a well and the water has alot of iron and minerals in it, so we have a filter system. The 30 gallon hwh does not supply enough water to use the tub. My solutions are 1. get a 60 gallon hwh. 2. get another 30 gallon hwh and hook it up in series(I knew someone who worked for a plumber who did this and said it is cheaper than a 60 hwh??) Will I have to run another power line?? 3. Get a on demand system. I will have to move the breaker box to the garage and run the required power…two 220s I think. The breaker box is in the utility room off the kitchen. We plan on moving the washer/dryer to the garage and use the gray water to irrigate fruit trees, and expand our kitchen later part of next year. Cabinets will cover the access to the breaker box. I don’t know if I should have the breaker box moved to the garage or just run two 220s if I go with the on-demand system. I also am interested in a solar hot water heater system? We would like to go the most energy efficient way as long as it would pay for itself within reason. We will probably stay here another 20 years. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks…Randy
Replies
You can install an in-line water heater which is located under or along side the jacuzzi in the recirculating water line. It is a 220v 30 amp heater. Seems this would be cheaper than heating all that water in reserve.
F
There he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.
—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Well a 30 gal is cheaper than a 60 gal, but a 60 gal is cheaper than 2 30 gal wh.
They do sell inline heaters for jetted tubs.
Point of use wh at tub I wouldn't recomend that, cause if you have it on the hw it doesn't get used at first cause your primary wh is supplying all the hw. It starts when the primary starts to run out & unless you go with some serious KW's you have to slow the water way down to get a decent rise of temp.
Back to 1 vs 2 wh's heat loss is actually greater with 2 30 gal vs 1 60 gal.
A 30g water heater is pretty darn small. You rarely see an electric serving a house that's less than 40 and many are 50-55.
With a Jacuzzi you'd probably be better off cost-wise getting a gas (NG or propane) heater. (Or do what most people do and just don't use the Jacuzzi.)
Whether or not your house can handle a tankless electric heater of sufficient size depends on the size of your electric service/breaker panel. You'd probably need at least a 150A service.
happy?
The electric recirculation heater for a large tub is worth looking into. As for cost, the best way to evaluate that is to get pricing on the options. Since you already have a working 30 gallon heater, your options appear to be a 60 gallon heater (with the increased electrical service required and higher operating costs year round) vs. a recirculating hot tub heater (with the new electrical service). Two water heaters in series does not work too well because one always carries the heaver load. But, it can work.