Instant hot water for new church?

April 11, 1980

Q. We are building a new church and have a gas boiler with circulating hot water for heat. Would it make sense to install instant hot-water devices at the faucets rather than use the main boiler system? After all, we'll only require hot water on occasion. G. W. Bleeks New York, N.Y.

A. This is an engineering-design problem which really should be discussed and analyzed by your heating engineer. Talk with him and let him advise you on what to do to reduce the operating costs as much as possible.

It would be my guess from this distance -- southern Arizona -- that instant hot-water tanks at certain faucets would be of negligible advantage in the case of your church.

Of course, your heating engineer may feel differently about it.