Dear forum members,
I've spent countless hours researching the water heater options. Hopefully the experts on this forum will be able to provide some recommendations. I have a 50 gallon Rheem tank, which seems to work fine, except when we have guests... and also it can never fill our whirlpool with anything but a room temperature water. The most obvious solution would be to install the second tank, but I feel bad about "punishing the environment" and running the second water heater only because we need extra hot water 5-10 times a year.
So I got all jazzed up about the tankless systems, however after reading a lot of the posts on this forum, I am getting cold feet. Ideally I would want a hybrid unit, the one that provides a combination of tank with high efficiency modulating and condensing burner. This unit should be able to provide amble hot water during peak usage, but still stay efficient during low demand times.
I came across Phoenix, which seems to combine everything I'd want from the water heater, including efficiency and ability to use PVC piping for intake / exhaust, but there's no dealers in Chicago area, and the information about these units is extremely scarce. I am also apprehensive about the potential cost of this unit (couldn't find even an approximate pricing)...
http://www.htproducts.com/phoenix.html
Any comments / suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I've spent countless hours researching the water heater options. Hopefully the experts on this forum will be able to provide some recommendations. I have a 50 gallon Rheem tank, which seems to work fine, except when we have guests... and also it can never fill our whirlpool with anything but a room temperature water. The most obvious solution would be to install the second tank, but I feel bad about "punishing the environment" and running the second water heater only because we need extra hot water 5-10 times a year.
So I got all jazzed up about the tankless systems, however after reading a lot of the posts on this forum, I am getting cold feet. Ideally I would want a hybrid unit, the one that provides a combination of tank with high efficiency modulating and condensing burner. This unit should be able to provide amble hot water during peak usage, but still stay efficient during low demand times.
I came across Phoenix, which seems to combine everything I'd want from the water heater, including efficiency and ability to use PVC piping for intake / exhaust, but there's no dealers in Chicago area, and the information about these units is extremely scarce. I am also apprehensive about the potential cost of this unit (couldn't find even an approximate pricing)...
http://www.htproducts.com/phoenix.html
Any comments / suggestions would be greatly appreciated!