I think with any system, distance from heater comes into play more than type of heater. We currently have a 70 gal heater in the garage, set at 160F, and our shower is on the opposite end of the house (~100 feet of tubing). It takes a good minute for the water to start getting warm. Since our piping path goes subterranean twice, the water has to heat the area around the pipes (dirt, air, insulation, etc) before passing the heat to the user.

An old employer of min in California had a 110 gal heater with a recirc loop (in-line pump) that took hot water to with 5 feet of any tap; almost no wait time. The loop started 30 minutes before normal work hours and went to the end of the day. I miss that system.


Scott

My HT