LESLIE: James in Rhode Island is dealing with a hot water situation or lack thereof, I should say. What can we do for you?
JAMES: I have a sink that’s about 45 feet away from my furnace and every morning, when I go to wash up to get ready for work, I’m putting two to three gallons of cold water down the drain because it takes so long for the hot water to get there.
TOM: Sure.
LESLIE: Well, first of all, if you’re a plant person, you should be collecting that water (Tom chuckles) and using it to water your plants; although I know you’ll end up with quite a bit after a week’s time and your plants will be not thirsty anymore.
But James, do you have like a closet or somewhere close to the sink where maybe you could install a tankless water heater? Because that would be the best solution. If you add a secondary, smaller water heater – and the tankless units are, you know, super-tiny; they can be hung on a wall; they can go in …
TOM: Very efficient.
LESLIE: Yeah, they’re super-efficient and that will immediately provide that water to that sink and give you hot water instantly. And the good thing about the tankless options are that instead of like a traditional, tanked water heater where they’re constantly heating the water whether or not you’re asking for it the tankless, once you call for that hot water, it kicks on super-quickly; heats up that hot water and it comes right out your faucet.
JAMES: Oh. I never even thought of that.
TOM: Yeah, there’s a good website you might want to take a look at: it’s ForeverHotWater.com. That’s the website for the Rinnai folks; they make some beautiful water heaters. And also, if you buy one right now, before the end of 2010, you can qualify for a federal tax credit that could cover up to 30 percent of the cost of the unit.
JAMES: Oh. I’ll have to investigate that.
TOM: Yeah, it’s a great time to invest in the tankless water heater, James.
JAMES: Oh, OK then. That should take care of my problem then.
TOM: Absolutely.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. No more cold face-washing.
JAMES: No, no, no. I don’t like that. (Leslie and James chuckle)
TOM: OK.
LESLIE: It’s certainly one way to wake up in the morning that you don’t like. (Tom and Leslie chuckle)
JAMES: Oh, in the summertime, it’s not bad.
LESLIE: But winter, not so much.
JAMES: No, no.
TOM: James, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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