Can I get some recommendations for a small on-demand hot water heater for my barn? Don’t need much, just a small one for a private home barn. Need one that runs on propane.
Thanks!!
You need to get the attention of Deltawave & JSwan. They are big on the on-demand water heaters.
Ours is electric, not propane, but we’re delighted with it. It heats our cold well water to bath temperature, no problem, with an endless supply and no big tank taking up space in the tack room. Plus it uses NO power when I don’t need hot water.
Ours is a Stiebel Eltron “Tempra 24”, it uses 2 x 60 amp circuits. A lot of juice, but to heat the water that hot and have high flow, that’s what you need. We probably would’ve been fine with a smaller/less power model, but my husband believes in over-engineering.
Their website is www.stiebel-eltron-usa.com I think they have propane models.
Check out www.tanklesswaterheaterguide.com
Hot water heater
I bough an eccotemp (I think that is the name) from camping world. It runs on a propane tank, the kind you use on a typical barbq grill. Cost about $120.
This water heater is GREAT. My husband mounted it on a dolly with the tank, and all you do is attach the hose from your water source and it heats instantly and you have hot water for as long as you need it. I can’t believe we have such a great hot water heater for so cheap. The water temp is adjustable but it can get piping hot!
One excellent feature is that it doesn’t heat if the water isn’t flowing. So when you are hosing your horse when you stop the heater stops too.
We did replace the hose and one of the fittings but that was easily done with a trip to the local hardware store.
When finished just roll it out of the way. I was really glad to have it when my vet cleaned the gelding’s sheath last week. Also used it all summer for baths.
Good luck.
We put a tankless in our LQ in the trailer this last summer. It’s a 110v and is, frankly, no more than adequate. But it’s the best we can do without a bigger electrical system or adding a propane system.
I’ve explored them for the barn (and the house). The gas units (propane or natural) are more efficient than the electrial (which require 220v service to be effective). On balance, though, electric tankless is probably more efficient than an electric 40 or 60 gal. You also have a BIG advantage in that you can locate them closer to points of use, eliminating the “warmup time” you have when the heater is in the basement (or other “central” location) to serve a whole house.
We have two regular systems in the basement for our old farmhouse. When they “give up the ghost” at least one will be replaced by a tankless unit.
G.
They’re considerably cheaper to run (don’t heat water you don’t use) and give you instantaneous hot water (no more WASTING water letting it run) but the reiability you’ll have to research.
Those of you with these in your house or barn, can you share cost of purchase/install?
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My DH ran a line from our water heater in the house to the stables years ago - it is the nicest thing to have. I have hot water when I need it, but no extra units and such to worry about. Last nights hot bran mashes were a SNAP!
I THINK our house unit was around $1800. and the barn unit was around $400.
For those that have them in the barn - the only water source I have is a frost free hydrant that is just outside my heated tack room. Is it possible to install an electric tankless to this or am I going to have to do some serious plumbing to get the unit inside my tackroom. Floor of the tack room is concrete and I really don’t want to dig up that floor. The reason I say inside my tackroom was that I was under the impression that they had to be on an exterior (NOT OUTSIDE) wall.
Also, while I realize there isn’t a tank to drain, what about hard water? Does it cause build up in the lines? I know that if I let a bucket of well water sit for a couple of days in a white bucket, I get an orange Iron stain to the bucket.
I really only use the hot water in the winter to fill water buckets and in the spring or summer when I clean sheaths. Currrently outside my home I have both a hot and cold faucet and I use a Y connect and about 200’+ of hose to run the water to the barn for sheath cleaning and early spring baths. For winter, I just use the bucket heaters to heat water for drinking but I’m getting to be an old broad and think I’d like the luxury of not rolling out all that hose come summer and having instant hot water come winter.
The water source in our barn is a pipe sticking out of the floor in the tack room, which we keep at 40 degrees in the winter. We hooked the heater right up to this (my husband did it himself) and then T’d the water off to the sink in the tack room and the frost-free spigot that goes through the wall to the wash rack/hose bib. We did find that we had to put in a small pressure tank because the barn is so far away from the well that the water “surged” a little bit and this made the pipes chatter horribly.
MJS - that is exactly why we opted for the direct line from the house. Tearing up concrete, upgrading the electrical, another potential fire hazard, the plumber, the electrician, the hassle, etc So for about $135 DH trenched a hot water line from our home to the stables = `viola!
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[QUOTE=Woodland;3708336]
MJS - that is exactly why we opted for the direct line from the house. Tearing up concrete, upgrading the electrical, another potential fire hazard, the plumber, the electrician, the hassle, etc So for about $135 DH trenched a hot water line from our home to the stables = `viola![/QUOTE]
Woodland, I already have the water line coming from the house to the barn and it comes outof the ground as a frost free hydrant. When I had the barn/indoor built 18 yrs ago I was not aware of on-demand water heaters if they even existed. I’d like to get one and I guess I will have to contact a plumber to see what they have to say. Since I had to replace my well pump a yr or so ago I think I’m going to contact those people as they seemed to be familiar with barns and obviously wells. I think I’m OK on electricity so that’s not a problem.
I guess I should clarify I have two frost frees - one hot one cold
[QUOTE=Woodland;3708832]
I guess I should clarify I have two frost frees - one hot one cold[/QUOTE]
Yep, I wish I had thought of running the hot water line down as well from the house at the time. A dear friend did that for her place and told me about it after the fact. 
That’s why I now use the long hose but it’s only good in the summer for bathing and sheath cleaning. I’m not about to re-dig the line and I really would like to be able to have warm water in the winter rather than use bucket heaters and timers so I don’t forget the heaters are in the water. Come tomorrow (Monday), I’ll the plumbers and give myself a nice X-mas gift if I can get an on-demand installed! 
Besides it’s helping the economy!
2008 topic
Grammarly has come a long way
what a funny read, I wonder what country this person was from as the wording for most is New Zealandish as “water heating appliance” is what they call a water heater
but then odd statements mixed in like this
The dishwasher runs into comparative issues - it doesn’t get enough heated water into it, so I need to run the water out of in the sink before beginning the dishwasher or it doesn’t wash too.
dish washers, at least the ones sold around me have and have had a heating element in the them that heats water to the desire wash temp
This reads like an industrial training exercise for a new engineer to write a new product project outline
No better time than the present!
Spammer reported.
