Hot water in a small barn- tankless?

[gypsymare]

Eccotemp makes the InstaHot and is way cheaper to buy without the Schneiders mark up.

I have the L10 for $175. Setup took 15 minutes. Endless hot water. Super easy to drain with quick connect hose fittings. Good pressure. I tried both a coil hose and expanding hose and much prefer the expanding hose. Better pressure and no tangling.

Electric on demand heaters take a tremendous amount of power that a small barn’s electric panel is likely not designed to handle. This poses a greater fire risk than a properly installed propane water heater. The temp rise is not high enough at higher flow rates.

[Bluey]

Our electricians don’t like at all the hot water on demand permanent heaters because our hard water is tough on them.
Even with filters, they give trouble sooner or later, so rather not go there.
We have a regular electric heater, like the house one, that provides enough hot water for all in the barn, tack room, bath room and horse wash stall.
That is what we had in our old race horse training barn, but that one was on propane and it worked fine also.

[FitToBeTied]

We are in VA and tried tankless on 240 and after two years I took it out. It would only get the water from the well up to about luke warm. I replaced it with a 12 G electric water tank. The water tank is on a switch so it is not on all the time.

I turn it on when I expect to need it. It doesn’t take long for it to get hot.

[Palm_Beach]

I love the Insta Hott. Very easy to use, and the water gets really hot.

[Lisa_Preston]

5 pound propane tank (though can use bigger if we want) and a $100 portable instant hot water are what I use at the barn, because it’s also what I put in the trailer when camping. Cheap, fast, endless hot water. I have two heavy screws mounted at the barn as places I hang the unit when using it at home.

[TheHorseMutterer]

Reviving this thread to ask a few more questions of the water heater gurus:

My barn is going to house a total of 2 horses, 1 donkey, and a mini. There will likely be no baths for the donkey (he is really adverse to…everything at the moment) and minimal mini baths (basically a pasture puff). Horses in light work at best and I’m not looking for HOT water, just on the medium/plus side of warm. Location is north of Atlanta, city water at a relatively cool temp, but not COLD (don’t have an exact temp).

Assuming I have settled on getting an electric, tankless water heater, what kind of Gallon/Minute should I be looking for?

Alternately, if I have settled on going electric, tank heated, on a switch, how many gallon capacity would I need?

[walkers]

I had a tankless for 20 years in a ten stall barn, it was there when I bought the place. This was in N.C. and you won’t have really hot water but it worked well for washing the horses and have warm water for the stalls. I imagine the new ones should better.
Many people use solar for their houses ,the initial cost is gong to be higher but if you aren’t planning to move solar will be fine. I’ve lived in a house where there was only solar hot water and this was way in the last century…

[clanter]

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