When you use arithmetic to multiply numbers you see that these 1/2 Gallon Instant Hot Water Heaters consume very little standby power. I would be curious to compare the greater power cost of incandescent bulbs over LEDs or flourescents, and then compare that power difference to the standby power consumed by leaving "On" a 1/2 Gallon Instant Hot Water Heater. When you draw a cup of instant hot water, you are spending as much in costs of heating THAT specific cup of water as the cost of boiling any other cup of water heated by any other method. Or less cost, not more. Many people live in climates cold enough to merit heating the house for about half the year. For them any and all heat is heat is heat is good. Get it? Having a warm body about the size of a kitten or a cat is a good thing, not bad. These same people have been known to turn off their 24 hour "On" energy hogging things during a midsummer heat wave. Get this: some people even turn off their hot water (house water heater) during heat waves. This is especially good when the water in the cold tap is luke warm in summertime. There are people who just ventilate in summer and are without A/C. So, different solutions for different needs. So, if anyone really wants to talk about saving costs, saving energy consumption, and saving the planet, they can look at bigger objects and bigger habits. So far I've not mentioned windows, house envelopes, and personal vehicle use. These three subjects deserve a lot of attention if anyone wants to feel good about doing the right thing to lower energy usage. Talking about a penny a day kind of thing is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, or mental "selfpleasuring". baation. Look at the big things first. hth

Hello, We are working on Insinkerator hot water dispenser number 3 in 3 years now, when I called to get it replaced (leaking from the cord underneath) they said that as a curtesy they would send a new one for us to install ourselves. We received a gray one to replace the leaking white box. We replaced it following the directions they sent and the insinkerator works great. However, we now have very little water pressure in our faucet at the same sink. We have tried shutting off the water to the hot water dispenser, or turning on or off the various water valves without improvement, taken off the faucet head and cleaning it etc without improvement. I called insinkerator who said if the hot water heater was working. they didn't care about the faucet (literally!) Can anyone help me figure out what is going on? It worked fine before this replacement. Is there some sort of pressure valve that is diverting all the water pressure to the insinkerator and away from the faucet? thanks

For the funny taste, you need to run the faucet until cool water comes out (empties out the tank and refills it). Do this several times and it will get better. If you don't use it much for a while you will also need to do this, because the water seems to get stale. Note that ISE has models with warantees ranging from 1 yr to 5 yrs with better faucets and don't get the cheapest hot1 and think it will be as good quality as the nickel gooseneck one. Also, they are using a new tank now. If you ask what made your old one leak and where it was leaking from, it might give you a clue to weather a better faucet, a different tank or brand, or even a different installer, would help you avoid the problem again. Also look at what temperature a unit heats to, and make sure it is ok with you if you get one that is 10 degrees or so cooler than another, esp if you like really hot tea. Boiling is 212 degrees, ISE heats to 200 degrees and some only heat to 190 degrees. Some people feel even 200 degrees is not hot enough for tea. It is personal preference. Sue

We are getting the Vertex bottleless water dispenser thanks to learning about it on GW. It is a filter and has both hot and cold water at the touch of a button. You hook it up to a water supply to not need bottles, so it solves the dispensing, filtering and hot water needs all in one (we did not "need" the hot water feature, but will prob find it to be handy). The only downside is it will take some counter space, but we plan on making it fit our plan because we could not find a fridge freezer set with water in the door in our price range. We have an interior icemaker and wanted to encourage filtered water drinking in our house over store bought pre-made drinks. I am guessing we will make more (unsweetened) iced teas with the simplified hot water feature.... Here is a link that might be useful: Vertex