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A comment on The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy infrastructure woes. Parent comment

Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by labster on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @09:17PM (#27756307)
Large tanks are cheap, square feet of residential space are expensive. Tankless water heaters work well when powered by nat gas, but if you want electric it’s not great.

I’ve been intending to do solar water heating, and convert from gas to electric, but the old heater gave out at the wrong time. So the current plan is build the solar and make a new place to move the electric tank into, then use the other tank for extra storage of the solar heated water. The good news about climate change is that I never have to worry about the pipes freezing any more.

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Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by vl on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @09:39PM (#27756436)
> The good news about climate change is that I never have to worry about the pipes freezing any more.

As they recently learned in Texas.

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Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by labster on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @11:46PM (#27757126)
Nah, I’m in coastal California. The last frost here was in the 1990s, last time it snowed was the 1930s. Think I’ll be okay.
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Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by kube-system on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:46AM (#27757482)
Climate change is making weather more extreme, in both directions. “Global warming” is a good descriptor of global climate as a whole but a bad descriptor of the effects on local weather. Many places are seeing higher highs and lower lows.

The only saving grace at the coasts is that you’re sitting beside a giant heatsink.

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Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by Retric on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @09:57PM (#27756546)
A family of 4 is normally fine with a 60 gallon water heater. Doubling that to 120 gallons takes up roughly 1 extra square foot of floor space assuming a 6’ tall tank. If you’re living in Manhattan at ~1,500$/sf might be worth it to avoid peak rates, but just about anywhere else it clearly is.
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Re:The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy... by seized on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @09:55PM (#27756535)
Climate change tends to mean more extremes, hot and cold (and windy). Southwest Canada is normally known for mild summers but it peaked over 110F last week. It was 95+F in my office.

So maybe plan accordingly just in case....

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