[Steve91T]

Hey guys. We're planning on moving to Charlotte, NC soon. The houses in our price range have small garages (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The one we are really interested in is a 2 car, 18ft wide, by about 21ft long. The gas water heater is the corner, and a built in gas heater is nearby, which is nice. The garage is finished, and has pretty high ceilings, looks like 10ft or so. There's two built in over head storage shelves that are made out of wood, and hanging from the ceilings.

So, if we get this house or not, it doesn't matter. All the garages are about the same size. So, how do you guys make the most out of a small space? If there is enough ceiling height, I'd love to build a loft, to give me room for some of my larger, bulkier things, like the compressor and tires and stuff like that.

This house is going to be a stepping stone for us. We'll be in it for roughly 2 years, then we'll move to a larger house, where hopefully I can build myself a huge detached garage.


Anyway, I just wanted to get some opinions/pictures.

Thanks guys!
Steve

[Steve91T]

2 days ago we moved into our new house in Huntersville, NC. Believe it or not, the 20x20 is actually one of the largest garages we looked at. Who's building these houses?

Anyway, the water heater is gas, 40 gal. It also has a huge water softener with a metal pole in front of the water heater. The water heater runs out of steam real quick and I've been thinking about replacing it with either a tankless, or a hybrid unit that mounts on the wall.

That would free up just about all of that space. We have city water, and it seems to be just fine with the water softener bypassed, so I'm going to just sell it.

Anyone have any experience with tankless or hybrid water heaters? I know they are more expensive, but they will save money. The hybrid's are maintenance free (just about).

I really want to get that mess out of my garage and free up all that space.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-01-20_09-56-17_833.jpg)

[Crazy Canuck]

2 days ago we moved into our new house in Huntersville, NC. Believe it or not, the 20x20 is actually one of the largest garages we looked at. Who's building these houses?

Anyway, the water heater is gas, 40 gal. It also has a huge water softener with a metal pole in front of the water heater. The water heater runs out of steam real quick and I've been thinking about replacing it with either a tankless, or a hybrid unit that mounts on the wall.

That would free up just about all of that space. We have city water, and it seems to be just fine with the water softener bypassed, so I'm going to just sell it.

Anyone have any experience with tankless or hybrid water heaters? I know they are more expensive, but they will save money. The hybrid's are maintenance free (just about).

I really want to get that mess out of my garage and free up all that space.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/2012-01-20_09-56-17_833.jpg)

I got rid of my electric water tank heater...
I got a 36kW tankless water heater (electric)... use the space for my compressor now, and my electrical bill did go down by 27-28% for every comparable time from the year before that... throughout the whole year... been saving ~ $50/month on electricity... and electricity here is much cheaper than south of the border.

Everything in my house is electrical (heating, appliances)... and given that after 2 baths, there is no more hot water, I'm glad I can have as much hot water as I want... and not spending $ to heat up water that is not in use.

the model I have is the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 36 Plus (36kW)... I got it from here: http://www.e-tankless.com/stiebel-eltron-t...ater-heater.php
If you call, it's cheaper than the price online (that's what happened to me)... I needed 3x 60A fuses and heavy guage wires... but I took the huge one.
After some stress tests, I cannot use more than ~24kW of power from it, because the water pressure cannot cope w/ the demand... ie, if I open more focets, the pressure goes down... limited by what comes from the city... but those tests were during the summer, when the water temperature was a bit higher than it would be in the winter... took the 36 for peace of mind.

Been extremely happy w/ the unit... almost 2 years now that I have it... still say it's among the best mods i did to the house.
my 2 cents.

[CrashTestDummy]

One if the biggest issues is sizing the heater correctly. Too small, and it's very easy to get too small, and you're hating every second you own one. My only experience with one was when we took a dive trip to the bay islands Honduras. The buildings were powered by electricity from a diesel generator, and the water was heated by a single tankless gas heater per 2 cabins. It usually either ran too cold, or too hot, and we knew the _second_ the people in the other cabin turned their water on.

It's nice to hear you're saving electricity there. It's something I might have to look in to, especially since it's just the two of us, and we use hot water maybe 4X a day. The prices there are pretty dang cheap from what I've been seeing in the big box hardware stores.

<SNIP>

I got rid of my electric water tank heater...
I got a 36kW tankless water heater (electric)... use the space for my compressor now, and my electrical bill did go down by 27-28% for every comparable time from the year before that... throughout the whole year... been saving ~ $50/month on electricity... and electricity here is much cheaper than south of the border.

Everything in my house is electrical (heating, appliances)... and given that after 2 baths, there is no more hot water, I'm glad I can have as much hot water as I want... and not spending $ to heat up water that is not in use.

the model I have is the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 36 Plus (36kW)... I got it from here: http://www.e-tankless.com/stiebel-eltron-t...ater-heater.php
If you call, it's cheaper than the price online (that's what happened to me)... I needed 3x 60A fuses and heavy guage wires... but I took the huge one.
After some stress tests, I cannot use more than ~24kW of power from it, because the water pressure cannot cope w/ the demand... ie, if I open more focets, the pressure goes down... limited by what comes from the city... but those tests were during the summer, when the water temperature was a bit higher than it would be in the winter... took the 36 for peace of mind.

Been extremely happy w/ the unit... almost 2 years now that I have it... still say it's among the best mods i did to the house.
my 2 cents.