Instant Gratification…and being in hot water.

Instant gratification.  Something nearly everyone wants even if they are not actively seeking it.  Sometimes it gets us into hot water.

This time, however, the hot water is a good thing.  Good because most of us do like a hot shower.  Some of us like a long hot shower.  And a few of us like a very long very hot shower…..often to the point of running out of hot water.  For the latter group, the tankless water heaters are a great thing.  Instant hot water that is produced for the duration that water is being used.  Open the tap, the unit lights off and heats the water as it flows through a coil inside…..close the tap and it shuts off.  Saving the fuel cost of maintaining a hot tank of water when it is not needed while having a virtually unlimited supply.

It is one of the new things that homes and businesses are using to save energy.  Obviously some applications are still better suited to the traditional style of heaters…..but where a tankless design can be made to work, it is a distinct advantage.

But here’s the thing…..the desire for instant gratification is not new, not even when it comes to a good shower.  Tankless heaters have been around since the days of flash tube boilers in steam powered automobiles.  I’ve seen them in some of my old technical books.  Surviving examples are, however, not so commonplace and many are unaware that this is a century old product.  The other day I found one that I could examine.  As I walked inside the junk shop in which it sat, it was one of the first objects I saw there.  As much as I wanted to take it home, restore it and use it, I couldn’t…..not this trip anyway.  Instant gratification denied.  Oh well.  As is my standard practice, I still took a couple of photos of it to share here.  So enjoy a look at one of the early attempts to save energy and get into hot water without delay.

While these took most of a century to catch on, an idea ahead of its time….hopefully the inventor did not feel that his efforts at tankless water heating had been a t(h)ankless endeavor.