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• How to calculate the size of tankless water heater needed
• An owner's guide to tankless water heaters - hot water on demand
• Tankless water heaters = demand water heaters = instantaneous water heaters
• Detailed explanation of how tankless hot water heaters work, what they cost, what are their operating characteristics, pro's and con's.

Here we explain how to calculate the size or capacity of tankless water heater you will need in a building. Page top sketch of a point of use tankless water heater courtesy of Carson Dunlop.

© Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman & Carson Dunlop Associates, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

How to Calculate Tankless Water Heater Requirements

You can calculate the approximate tankless water heater capacity required for any application as follows:

T1 = incoming water temperature

T2 = desired output hot water temperature at the plumbing fixture (say a shower)

GPM = anticipated hot water flow rate or usage rate in gallons per minute.

Example:

If your incoming water temperature to the building is 40 deg.F. and you want to provide hot water at a bath shower at 100 deg. F., and if your shower fixture runs at 3 gpm, then

T1 = 40 deg.F., T2 = 100 deg.F.

T2 - T1 = 60 deg.F. - that's the temperature rise you need.

Your tankless water heater will need to be able to provide a 60 deg. temperature rise at 3 GPM.

Note 1: our example does not consider temperature losses in the piping between the water heater and the point of use nor the use of temperature limiting or anti-scald valves in the plumbing system, both of which reduce the actual hot water flow rate in gpm

While 100° may be a good shower temperature, this means that mixing valves at the shower will be delivering almost 100% hot water. This may make filling a bathtub slow or result in lower water pressure than anticipated. When we blend hot and cold water, we enjoy a higher flow rate and commensurately higher pressure at the shower.

Note 2: it's quickly apparent that if the hot water system is going to be asked to provide 100 deg.F. hot water to multiple fixtures simultaneously, the gpm heating rate of your tankless water heater is going to have to be big - and may be beyond the capacity of the equipment. In this case see our Multiple Ganged Tankless Water Heaters article.

Gas fired tankless water heaters can usually produce more hot water faster than an electric unit. Electric tankless water heaters are simplest to install and operate, requiring only wiring and water piping, no fuel piping, no venting or chimney.

If your building includes three or four bathrooms or even just two baths, and if the occupants are likely to want to run hot showers simultaneously at multiple fixtures, the performance of a single demand water heater or tankless water heater may be marginal unless the unit is quite large.

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Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

  Tankless Water Heaters
    Guide to Tankless Water Heaters
    Operation & Characteristics
    Problems & Defects
    Hot Water Delivery Speedup
    Installation Requirements & Costs
    Should I Convert to a Tankless Heater?
    Calculate Water Heater Requirements
    Capacities of Tankless Water Heaters
    Life Expectancy & Applications

• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• Consumer Reports offers an article on the efficiency versus the economy of tankless water heaters - see http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/heating-cooling-and-air/water-heaters/tankless-water-heaters/overview/tankless-water-heaters-ov.htm
• Bosch Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.boschhotwater.com/
• Chromolite Tankless Water Heaters
• Bradford White Everhot Tankless Water Heaters - Bradford White offers this step by step hot water retrofit installation file (large, slow PDF) - www.bradfordwhite.com
• Eemax Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.eemaxinc.com/
• Noritz Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.noritz.com/
• Rheem Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.rheemtankless.com/content/
• Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.rinnai.us/tankless-water-heaters/
• Stiebel Eltron Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.stiebel-eltron-usa.com/
• Takagi USA Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.takagi.com/
• Titan Tankless Water Heaters - http://www.titanheater.com/
• U.S. Department of Energy on Tankless Water Heaters - http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=12820

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