It's a dead thread so I thought I'd resurrect it in a different direction. It has been 21 years since the Boss and I have moved back "on grid". Before that was a buncha years out in the back country, most of it living kinda in the rough. I went from garden hose showers and bathing in the river, to RV showers in the bus, to the lap of luxury... an outside shower with hot water supplied by one of two different tankless propane water heaters. There's nothing like a good outside shower and nothing like a good tankless water heater.

Well, after all those years of hauling propane and loving every minute of it, when we moved close to civilization, 21 years ago, I just naturally yanked out the electric water heater in the ugly trailer and plumbed in our tankless propane heater. Seemed like a no-brainer. Just because we now had cheap electricity, instead of the free stuff, didn't mean we had to have an electric water heater!

Now, here it is 21 years after going to work full time at the Muffin Store, and 21 years after moving 1 hour closer to work, and 21 years after Jake turned 1 year old, and our second tankless water heater pooped its guts all over the back yard. The company that made it was in France but out of business. I had "fixed" the burner assembly several times but now the main mixing valve was all gunnybagged, so it was time for the scrap heap.

The log home will NOT have a tankless propane unit simply because the water heater will sit right next to the center RPSL and I wanted to make the plumbing easy so I know it will be electric. Why buy a $1,000 tankless heater when I may accidentally finish the log home some day and then go out and buy a cheap electric model.

So I bought a cheap electric water heater. I mean really cheap. It is a 40 gallon "mobile home model" so it is as cheap as they come. Wire it up and bend a few water lines and I am ready to go just like all the other trailer trash in the valley.


So my main question for the rest of you is this... Why did I wait so long? This water heater is amazing! I didn't need a water pressure regulator on this heater so when I turn on a hot water valve I get full, non-metric, 100% American, waste it or lose it, honest to goodness full strength hot water! That means that doing dishes involves fairly quick hot water and a lot of it. That means that a shower feels like a back massage! I love this water heater!

I know this is a radical departure from where this thread was headed, but I just wanted to say that, for those of you that have 220v of city power, you could do a lot worse than an old fashioned electric water heater. Save the extra money to invest in hand forged door hinges or underwear. I want photos!