Siogreen IR 30 Great for showers. Against professional Advice.
Ok, I read plenty of warnings about how a handwashing tankless wouldn't do the job of a shower. I bought the IR30 because it is the only one with 120VAC capability. We are off grid solar and have a 10,000 watt battery bank. 2000 watts of PV panels. And a Solar Jack inverter that is 120 volts AC and that has been working great for 3 years. So it's easy to install, we had to add an inline pump (166 watts) to give us proper pressure. And connect it to a GFI extension and folks, it works. It's not scalding hot water, but it is comfortable warm water. I didn't think to test it with my infrared thermometer, but I will later. We have to watch our wattage so when we are running a 1000 watt item, we don't run two at a time. We can in the winter when the pumphouse is cold, but in the summer, it overheats. Until we can get decent insulation on the building.
The heater itself runs at 1800 watts. I looked up conventional tank water heaters. They run at 4500 watts. So folks who wring their hands and tell us it uses too much power are just tweaking. Because this heater will only use that much power as long as you need the hot water. 15 minutes? To us on solar off grid, that IS efficient. Now I had wanted to set up ABS pipe 3" diameter on the roof to collect heat from the sun passively, and eventually we may do that, but I found out ABS pipe is very expensive. I don't think it used to be, but I'll just have to get used to the idea and warm up to the cost of setting that up.
Yes I was thrilled to get a good warm shower at home. It has been years, over 15 years. Last time we used solar shower bags. They get too hot. They get scalding hot. And they are a hassle to lift them up into operational position. (if you are a not to tall woman) . I suppose if I want scalding water for dishes I can lay one of those bags on the front porch. But comfortably warm water is good too. And no my current IR 30 doesn't cover the whole house. I expect to buy another just for the kitchen. It makes sense if you want hot water, you don't want it pushing miles of cold water through in front of it. That would happen regardeless of the heater.
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