Have you ever come home from a hard day’s work anticipating a nice hot shower and found that someone beat you to it? Now you must wait for the water-heater to catch up with you. Then add insult to injury when you peruse your astronomical electric bill and discover how clean your family really is.

Once again, modern technology offers an answer to our needs. Some companies are listening to their customers and have taken the initiative to provide them with state-of-the-art energy-efficient appliances that meet their multi-faceted needs: rescuing the family budget, offering unlimited hot water on demand, and supporting the environment.

Hamel Fuels sells the Monitor KWH-124 Instantaneous Water heater. This trendy appliance that only heats water when you want it, provides up to 220 gallons of hot water per hour, while using a miserly single gallon of K-1 kerosene.

“Instantaneous is probably the key word,” said Scott Kimball, vice president of Hamel Fuels. “It runs until you turn the faucet off, providing unlimited hot water. However, only one (source of) hot water can be used at a time. For a modest change in life-style, you can have hot water very cheaply.”

Customers report substantial savings over the cost of operating electric or propane hot water heaters. In fact, Monitor estimates that the annual cost of operation for a family of four is $189. No energy is wasted on hot water storage.

Standing about 35 inches high, the unit occupies a mere five cubic feet of space. It can be installed anywhere in the home that allows direct venting through an exterior wall or an existing chimney, making it attractive even for apartment dwellers.

Mark Letizia, owner of Osprey Healthy Homes, has built his business on providing energy-efficient alternatives for homeowners. Heating water with an Aquastar water-heater that he bought from a Vermont importer, he saves money and energy. These appliances are available through local gas companies.

He said, “I do everything as energy-efficiently as possible. I tend to trust alternative energy sources… A water-heater in the basement uses too much electricity.”

The compact Aquastar hot water heater can be mounted on any outside wall. Operating on LP or natural gas, the 125,000 BTU appliance provides limitless hot water for a fraction of the cost of traditional units.

Letizia said, “I’m happy with it.”