Article

Propane stars with solar

Rinnai’s tankless solar hot water heater backup system targets electricity

Rinnai installed its first tankless solar hot water heater backup system, and I was there for the event.

Teco Peoples Gas, a natural gas utility in the Tampa, Fla., area, arranged for one of its employees to have the water heating system installed in his home in preparation for a regional promotion to put 1,000 RH-360 systems in service this year.

The system incorporates a propane or natural gas Rinnai tankless water heater, a solar collector for the majority of the water heating energy, a solar energy terminal (think heat exchanger), a hot water storage tank and the unique RH-360 pump system that eliminates cold water sandwiching, a nuisance problem with most solar systems. The tankless gas water heater stands ready to back up the solar water heating system when the hot water demand exceeds solar heating capacity.

Randy, the homeowner, was interested in having the Rinnai system installed to replace the 40-gallon standard gas water heater in his garage. His two teenage daughters like hot showers and the tired, old water heater wasn’t keeping up.

Teco Peoples Gas is planning to offer a lease-to-own plan for the system that gives customers a complete installed system, including maintenance, for about $45 a month over a period of 10 years. The main marketing focus is on customers who are currently heating their water with electricity. That sounds like a familiar target.

Tracy Young, the Rinnai product management specialist, put together a great team of installation specialists from Rinnai, system component manufacturers and area plumbing professionals. A team meeting was held the day before to set plans for a smooth installation, and it paid off.

The crew arrived at Randy’s house by 8 a.m. on the big day and worked their way through all of the little issues that can come up with the first installation of new technology. A film and camera crew was on hand to record the event and slowed things down enough to extend the installation completion to the next morning. Under normal circumstances, the installation is at most a one-day job.

Some plumbers take the easy way out and try to sell the consumer an electric-to-electric replacement water heater to make the installation a quick one. As long as the customer can have hot showers waiting at the end of the day with the tankless solar installation, there is no reason for the customer to accept an electric shortcut.

Rinnai and several other manufacturers are bringing cutting-edge technology to the water heating business, and propane retailers need to find ways to take advantage. No, the tankless solar unit isn’t a big propane load builder, but in today’s energy world we need to bring cutting-edge-energy answers to consumers in multiple propane applications and this is just one of many ways to do it. New propane applications like the solar tankless system are offering the efficiency and environmental solutions that consumers are looking for.

Embrace new technology and rebuild your propane load one application after another. The new Rinnai tankless solar system can be an important part of your program, especially if your business is in the Sunbelt.

If you want to learn more about building your propane load with tankless propane water heaters, attend one of PERC’s new Marketer Technology Training Programs that are being held at up to 20 spots around the country. One of the courses will cover basic installation, energy efficiency, environmental impact, consumer benefits and how to overcome implementation obstacles when developing your own marketing program for tankless propane water heaters.
Find a Marketer Technology Training Program near you at www.propanecouncil.org/MTT. It is a great way to short-circuit your electric company.