When I was a kid in the 50s we lived in Singapore in a nice house.
The bath tubs had their own hot water heater. You lit it with a match and heated water for that tub full.(I can not remember the house having piped gas maybe it did. Or maybe the heater ran off something else.
Watching house hunters on cable yesterday i saw a Paris apartment that looked like it had the same type water heater.
Are these still made?
who made them?
Replies
It's been a dozen years since I was in Norway, but they had them there, too. Only in Norway, with all the hydro power, everything's electric.
Didn't see them in newer homes, though, just those built/remodeled prior to maybe 1955.
Note -- the units I've seen were not "tankless" but rather had a roughly 10-gallon tank. When you wanted a bath you'd turn on the heat 30-60 minutes beforehand.In Norway many of the homes were contracted for power like an industry -- they paid a fixed amount for some number of KW and a premium charge for any excess. So many homes had a KW meter (with a red line) in the kitchen (often right above the kitchen sink). The home's residents would turn loads on and off to keep the needle near the red line. When you turned on the water heater you'd turn off other loads, or, if you noticed you were below the line and were planning to use hot water soon, you'd turn on the heater.
what does power cost there -per month typical family??????
When I was there last I worked it out that electricity was less than half as much per KW as it is here. Everything else (gas, food, lodging) is more than twice as expensive as here (not exaggerating).The weather is generally mild there, considering the lattitude. Near the coast, especially, temps rarely drop below about 10F, at least in the more populous southern third of the country. And the soil, terrain, poor roads, and other conditions make oil/gas much less attractive than is generally the case here. So electric resistance heating is pretty attractive.
are you looking for the exact same thing or just still like the idea?
U can get "tankless" water heaters.
my plumber recommends them if possible for filling large spa tubs.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
No not looking to buy- just curioushow expensive is electricity in London?
Edited 4/20/2005 7:59 am ET by wain
Growing up in Britain we always had this method...one brand that comes to mind is 'Ascot', fired by natural gas. Great for Brits as they only bathed once a week (!) as keeping the hot water tank on was prohibitively expensive.
To answer your question - yes , you will still find both electric and gas heaters available. Use Google or similar. Words of caution are that they are really expensive ($990 Cdn), and they take up at least 4 breakers on your panel, especially if you go for the whole-house version. As for the cost to run, they are viable if you are an occasional user (weekender, vacation cabin, etc). But if you consider the 'amortisation' , perhaps it's worth keeping to the HW tank. Ah, another thing...because they have to heat as the water passes thru, there is a much lower volume, saving water. However, this won't apply if you spend all day in the shower as you won't run out of hot water!
piko pete
I have an American water heater like you are describing from 1907.
Lion brand, made by Pittsburg Water Heater Co., PA.
It is a nice looking cast iron unit, with a gargolye style lion head cast into it.
It has a gas burner you light with a match and a 20' copper coil, cold water turns hot as fast as it flows through.
I really will post photos this weekend.
Good.
My Mom rented a place that had one in the 30s.
Here's the photo of the 1907 tankless water heater. I turned it into a lamp.
In the "projects" in Birmingham (Alabama) during WW II we had a match-lit hot water tank on natural gas or LP gas- I was too young to know the difference. Mother said she always knew when the water was hot because it boiled over.
Those houses were unfinished cinder block, bare concrete floors, curtains for privacy doors and all identical - it was common for men coming home from the steel mills to walk into the right house on the wrong block. Rent was $30 a month.
HarryD
Interesting looks like some had coils and some had tanks