On the Wire - Go Tankless
Nothing is worse on a chilly morning than an unexpectedly cold shower. There is no greener, smarter, cheaper way to prevent such a rude awakening than a tankless hot water heater. A great solution for delivering cost-effective hot water to your home, a tankless hot water heater is energy efficient because it only heats water as it's needed, and is also controllable because the water temperature can be changed instantly.
Here's how it all works. With a traditional water heater, the 40-gallon capacity is being heated all day long (as your energy dollars are being burned away), and when the contents are used up on showers and household appliances, you have to wait for the next round to be heated. In a tankless hot water heater, however, water is heated on demand.
The very compact tankless units attach to the plumbing system via either an interior or exterior wall mounting, and heat water as it runs through the unit's heat exchanger. As a result, when you open a hot water tap, the appliance begins to heat water within a few seconds and continues to deliver at a constant temperature for as long as is needed. Once you shut off the hot water tap, the tankless water heater shuts off, too, eliminating standby loss and conserving a substantial amount of energy in comparison to a tank-type heater.
The convenience of adjusting water heat settings is another advantage of tankless hot water heaters, especially for households with small children and elderly family members where scalding accidents are a worry. Contemporary units have easy-to-use digital controls and even remote control options for dialing warmth up or down as needed, from anywhere in the home.
As good as tankless water heaters are, they can't overcome the problem of the physical distance between the water heater and the bathroom. When you turn on your hot water, all the water in the pipe between the faucet and the water heater has to drain out. As a result, the water runs cold until it is replaced by the hot water being fed by the water heater.
There is, however, one other advantage of a tankless water heater that can help in this situation. Tankless units are very small compared to traditional water heaters. As a result, they can be installed practically anywhere, and it's easy to use multiple tankless units to divide your domestic hot water supply into two zones. One can be fed from the basement or first floor, where it is a short distance to the kitchen and powder room, and another can be fed from the attic or a second-floor closet, where it is near the upstairs bathrooms. As a result, you can have both a cost-effective and convenient source of hot water.
Tankless hot water heaters are at their most efficient when powered by propane or natural gas, and typically need gas lines larger than their inefficient tanked counterparts. So if you're considering working one or two into your home's plumbing system, start by consulting with a service professional or the appliance manufacturer
Want another good reason for going tankless? Tax credit. Along with saving money on your monthly energy bill, you can also receive a $300 tax credit from the Department of Energy toward the purchase price of a qualifying tankless unit„ a heartwarming and wallet-warming bonus to the comfort and convenience you'll receive from this smart heating alternative.
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Ask Tom & Leslie - Fridge Freeze-Out
This week's question comes to us from Felix in Alexandria, Virginia. He says, "I'm having problems with my refrigerator's ice maker. The supply line inside the freezer froze. I was able to unclog it but the ice maker still doesn't work correctly. The supply line outside the refrigerator leaks now. What's wrong?"
Felix, you did the right thing by defrosting and unclogging the supply line. What you should do in addition to this is replace the water shutoff valve or the water inlet valve, or both if necessary. Either or both of these valves may have been damaged and you will have a recurrence of the problem in that case. Good luck and thanks for listening!
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Got A Question About Your Money Pit?
You can do-it-yourself but you don't have to do-it-alone. Getting in touch with us is as easy as 1 - 2 or 3!
- The toll-free studio hot line is 1-888-MONEY PIT. Find out when we broadcast in your area by checking out our website at www.moneypit.com. Each week we take dozens of calls, give great advice and offer callers a chance to win a terrific prize awarded to one random caller to every show.
- Call when it's convenient for you, 24 hours a day, same number: 1-888-MONEY PIT. A live person takes your call 24/7! So -- WHENEVER you have a home improvement question -- phone it in. Simply tell our phone screener your first name, and where you're calling from...and ask your question. We’ll get back to you with the answer – or even call you back during the show!
- Click here to email your question to us. We may read your email on the air and we also respond personally to many of the email questions we get.
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On the Air - Calling All Pros
The Money Pit wants you! Are you a home improvement pro? Do you nail, plumb, wire, pipe, vent, brick, cut or nail your way through homes for a living? We are looking for a few of the proud and the brave to share some insight with us. Tell us what you wish your clients knew BEFORE they hired you. Tom and Leslie are writing a new book that could feature you! We'll pick three pros to interview on our national radio show this fall and select many more to include in our upcoming book! So, here's your chance. Help us help you by telling us what you wish consumers knew before hiring you for a home improvement project. If you could "train" your customers, what would you tell them? Include tips or advice that might make them a more knowledge consumer of your products or services. And feel free to include any humorous "war stories" from customers who, perhaps could have used a bit of training! Click herefor details.
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Dot Common Sense - Let in the Light
What can you add to your home that can beautify the interior, make it seem roomier, save you money and may actually help strengthen your bones and teeth? A skylight! Skylights can open rooms up to natural light, make small spaces seem larger and create energy efficient possibilities that may help lower your utility bills. Plus, some studies show that people who are exposed to more sunlight may boost their Vitamin D intake, which is known to strengthen teeth and bones.
But there is the risk of home improvement headaches – IF your skylight is not installed right and you end up with costly water damage. When building skylights – or other roof details like valleys, rake edges, chimneys, ridges and dormer walls – make sure you take precautions to prevent water permeation. One product we like by Grace that is the first of its kind – designed specifically for waterproofing roof details. It's called Roof Detail Membrane – a flexible membrane that conforms tightly to roof details. It's a little extra protection that can go a long way. For more information on Grace's family of weather barriers for roofs, windows, doors and decks, visit www.GraceAtHome.com.
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Fun Fact - Lawn & Garden Hazard Cleanup
Keeping your lawn green and healthy usually means using some sort of chemical product on it, be it fertilizer or weed killer or pesticide. You may have some empty containers lying around. Here are guidelines for what to do with them:
If the label on your empty pesticide container tells you to rinse the container, use the rinse water on your target site. Do not pour the rinse water into a household drain, on the ground, or into a gutter or storm drain. In many communities, these containers are not recyclable. Find out how to dispose of through your local waste management office. Aerosol containers should be capped and thrown in with your trash. Fertilizer bags should be wrapped in newspaper and thrown in trash. Don't reuse any of these containers. Any unused product should be disposed of through your local hazardous waste program.
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Short Cuts - Don't Fear the Router
A router can be one of the most useful DIY tools you can own. But most people are still very intimidated by them. What is a router anyway and how do you use it? Routers are very versatile and relatively safe and easy to use. In simplest terms, it's a shaft that runs off a motor. At the end of the shaft, there's a collet, which is what is commonly known as the router bit. It can be called a cutter head as well. Basically, it's the device that actually makes the shape or in router terms, the profile. There are many projects you can take on with the help of a router....
- Adding a decorative edge to furniture
Creating your own crown molding or chair rail
- Building furniture
- Adding a cable/speaker wire port to an existing cabinet or TV stand
- Adding a decorative edge on a fence before installing
If you're still a little hesitant, there are a couple of great options available from Ryobi. First is a starter kit and how-to video. This kit includes a combination of router bits: roundovers, chamfer bits, straight bits, V-grooves, along with an instructional video on how to get started. It includes information on how to safely use the product and what you can expect to get out of it. If you don't want to try a full size router at first you may want to invest in what is called a trim router. These are for smaller jobs but are also very useful tools. You can use these to cut out holes for outlets in drywall or smaller trimming jobs. Make sure you follow some basic safety rules before you use your router...
- Wear safety glasses or goggles. Routers do throw a lot of wood chips.
- Consider earplugs. Routers can be very loud!
- Always make sure you've got the router set up correctly by making a test cut. It isn't worth messing up a finished piece to find out you've made a mistake.
- Don't hold the router with one hand and the work piece with the other. Always keep both hands on the router. Clamp smaller pieces to a work station.
- Use multiple passes. It is much safer and will give a much better result if you make deep cuts in incremental passes.
For more tips and info, visit www.RyobiTools.com.
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Copyright 2007 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.
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