When we moved into our house, I was “pleased” to discover that our hot water system dated back to 1988 (a new record for our plumber!). A Rheem gas hot water system, it mostly worked, but it was clearly just a matter of time before it failed.

After doing some research, our new water heater went in today. It’s a Bosch 26eco+ instantaneous gas system, with a whopping 6.9 star rating (out of a possible 6 stars). By comparison, most houses seem to be putting in 5 or 5.1 star systems.

Why we choose this:

• We looked closely at solar hot water, both conventional and evacuated tube systems. Two big problems: we’re really short on sunny roof space, and these systems cost $4k+.
• In the end, we decided that solar power (PV) would be a better use of our available space (this will be installed in late March, watch this space for a blog post).
• Installed, the Bosch system cost $2k.
• As we we’re moving from a gas system, there are no Australian Government rebates available to us.
• Staying with gas (as opposed to a heat pump) seemed to make the most environmental sense.

It’s a marvelously small unit compared to our old 1980’s hulking beast. I’ll look carefully at our next gas bill, and will report back…