Tankless water heater for off-grid solar thermal backup [RE-wrenches]

Brad Bassett bsbassett at earthlink.net
Fri Jun 6 12:09:38 PDT 2003


The Rinnai takes 120v AC, runs 75 watts running, 105 watts running w/ 
freeze protection (shame on you if you put one where it could see such 
temps), and about 5-10 watts on standby. I've asked and no has found any 
problems disconnecting the AC when not running, so one could put a relay 
in the AC if another control method could be used besides water demand. 
I will be using one for backup heating for both DHW and heat as a side 
arm to a storage tank. It will run only when the circulator is active, 
so I'll turn off the AC while it's inactive. Keep in mind that it needs 
over 20psi pressure and a fairly high head pump if circulating ie: 25ft 
head, 5 gpm for max capability (188,000 BTU). I'll be using a March 
809HS and using a lot less than maximum capability, which is OK I don't 
need that much heat. It will modulate down to 15000 BTU so will get down 
to about 15-20 F water temp differential before turning off, so as a 
backup to solar in series might be a little problematic at a certain 
temperature range.

Brad


Richard L Ratico wrote:
> 
> Hi Ian,
> 
> I'm now considering tankless heaters also. Rinnai has a new unit called 
> the
> Continuum. I'm not sure if it needs AC or not.
> 
> 



Brad Bassett
Schott Applied Power 
Tumwater, WA office
bsbassett at earthlink.net

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