Plumbing and water leaks -- my bane

Recently, I had the misfortune to have a leak in the drain valve on my hot water heater. It was a steady drip drip that we were convinced was coming from the condenser in our A/C unit. I finally found it and fixed it -- just a simple gasket in the (insert expletive) ball valve (the valve was made of nylon no less).

Water leaks have been a constant struggle in my work life -- We used water for cryopump compressors and the every-day plumbing you encounter in your average research lab. It got so bad that I had to buy and install moisture sensors and have security hook them up to campus police. Oh, the 3 am phone calls.

My family made a trip to Belize and we stayed at this really nice lodge near San Ignacio (which has/had a wonderful Indonesian restaurant)[1]. This lodge, if this is the best word, had bungalos with hot water heated with gas (propane?) in line water heaters. I have decided that if I build, or have more leak issues, I am going to get an in-line heater.

I was recently surfing (remember unemployed = time on your hands, as Monster/Careerbuilder/Physicstoday/Chronicle of Higher Education don't add a hundred jobs in my field every day) I came across a manufacturer of these devices -Bosch. A quick web search gives the prices as roughly $1100 for a unit that can support two appliances at once (washing machine and shower, for instance) or 20 liters per minute[2]. They are sold for either natural gas or propane at the same price.

As they only have the pilot light lit constantly and don't fire up the burner (in contact with the heat exchanger), they are more energy efficient. This site also says that they are eligible for a $300 tax credit on your 2009 taxes. I see them as win-win and for energy effiency and price.


[1] San Ignacio is close to the Guatemalan border (specifically the Peten), but it was the rainy season, so we were unable to go to Tikal, which was a major disappointment.
[2] A quick search discovered that a replacement for our H/W heater would be ~$500-$600.