We have a visitor that is hanging around the Gregg Compound lately.  It is a Barred Owl and he seems to have insomnia since we see him frequently in the day time.  Here is a great close up video of him as I use my Ninja Skills to become invisible and walk up to him in  broad daylight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4-d4yMN6s

Like and Share this with your friends on Facebook.  It's not every day you get a look like this at a wild owl.  Very cool.

I recently went to training on Seisco electric tankless water heaters and have some news to report.  There are some major differences with how electric tankless water heaters operate and how they manage energy!

I have updated my tankless water heater article with this but to give you a little more detail; here is what they do differently:

First, Seisco controls power to the elements completely.  When the unit is signaled to turn on (By thermistors, not a flow sensor) it begins by using 10% of its power capacity split between all elements.  Other models slam on full power and then throttle back from there.  This causes a much greater load on the electrical panel, can cause light flicker, and will cost more money to operate the unit. They also control the power to each element to balance the power usage between them offering better power management and temperature control across the entire range of operation.  This gives them a huge advantage in that when figuring on the panel load this appliance adds only a fraction of the load instead of the full power you would have to figure for other manufacturers.  A 133amp RA32 only has a panel load of 54amps! (Per NEC 220.2/220.3)  This means most homes with a standard 200 amp service can have this unit installed without a major electrical upgrade.

The RA series units also have a fully vented chamber.  This means the air bubbles released from heating water in the chambers is vented out of the unit instead of collecting at the last chamber where it will burn out the elements faster.  As stated they use thermistors instead of a flow switch or sensor which gives them a super low activation rate of just .25GPM!  This makes them IDEAL for multi-family and condo projects where gas is not an option, and low flow fixtures used.

Seisco also offers point of use units and they have a full range of hydronic heating units designed for radiant floor heating with a range from 17,100btuh to 95,564btuh.  This gives a person doing a small radiant heating zone a great and inexpensive heat source that takes up virtually no space and is energy efficient.

The biggest thing I want to report is the Seisco SUPERCHARGER!  This is one of the most awesome things to come out in the tankless water heater world in some time.  It is designed to go directly downstream of a tank water heater (Gas or electric) to boost its capacity.  When a tank begins running out of hot water (After about 2 showers or filling one tub with most 50 gallon tanks) you feel the temperature drop.  This drop is usually only a few degrees but to your body it becomes uncomfortable and you have to get out of the shower, or wait for the tank to “recover”.   With a Supercharger, you would set it a few degrees below the set point of the tank.  When the tank is fully charged with hot water it simply flows through the Supercharger and nothing happens.  But, when the tank temperature drops even .1* below the set point of the Supercharger it will fire at as little as 1 amp and bring that temperature back up to the set point. It will continue to adjust and raise the water temperature back up to the set point as long as water is flowing and up to its full capacity.  It does this with 0 pressure drop and by being able to take water at 100*F, 90*F or even 80*F and raise it up to 115*F or more, instead of 2 showers you now have the capacity of 4 or more without adding another tank, or having a large upfront cost of more expensive equipment!  In fact even after the tank temp drops way down, you can normally take one shower at a time endless hot water and this thing can keep up!

This product gives consumers yet another viable option for increasing their hot water capacity to meet their needs.  Since this unit does not do anything until the tank loses temperature, you have a very small impact to your overall energy use and bill!  Not bad. 

If you need more hot water, don’t want to go into a full blown gas or electric tankless water heater conversion, you might want to look into one of these for your home!