rolltrain

I know they have back ups that give you power for a few hours when the power is out, but someone was telling me of a way to rig some contraption with a battery and some wires so I can light the pilot light when the power is out and have hot water. Anyone know wanything about this?

travelover

They are probably talking about a power inverter. This is a device that hooks up to a battery (like a car battery) and delivers 110 volts AC, like your house electricity.

There are two flavors of inverter; modified sine wave (cheap) and true sine (about 3 times as much).

If your water heater has solid state devices it might not operate properly on a modified sine wave. You might ask the manufacturer (866) 746-6241 ((866) RINNAI1) or else borrow an inexpensive inverter and try it to see if it works.

inspectorD

You could probably buy a cheap generator to annoy the neighbors.
I agree with Travelover, you should contact the company for a type of inverter for the battery power. You don't have to buy theirs, just find one with the same sine wave....Ok ...OK.
www.homepower.com is a good start. It is a magazine with the type of info you looking for and where I first read about them . Type in "inverters" at the search engine to learn more about them.
Happy hunting.

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triple D

Cold showers suck, don't they? I agree with inspectorD, you can get a very quiet, very small generator, 1000 watts, for around $300. You could save yourself a car battery and an inverter, and now you can also cycle your refrigerator and freezer durring the power outage. Might be a better investment for your money in my opinion.

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patterrw

I have heard talk of people wiring tankless h20 heaters into a UPS for a computer, as a battery backup that way...not sure if that is advised/warrented, but the installer of our tankless unit said he had seen it done...

if you are in a hurricane prone area, you may want to look into a generator system that you would simply plug into an outlet near the panel, and have certain circuits wired into it....a bit more expensive, but it will very easy to use once you need it....