Question:
Is it possible to use the hot water from a faucet on yom tov in which the water is heated by a tank-less water heater. Tank-less water heaters do not store hot water. Rather, when the hot water faucet is opened the heating mechanism is turned on and the water is then heated. Any recommendations?
Answer:
Although we are allowed to bring a existing fire from one place to another on yom tov, we are not allowed to ignite or make a fire anew. Causing the mechanism to start would be included in this. Personally I don’t know of any ideas. If anyone has, I’d be happy to hear them.
Best Wishes
I don’t think there is really a solution to this.
Just to contribute some thoughts on the practical elements of this and how they contribute to/supplement the answer which was given:
Old-fashioned water heaters of this sort (which my grandparents had) were completely mechanical (as far as I know) and had a gas pilot light so the flame used to heat the water wasn’t a new one – it was lit from an existing flame – and theoretically that might have been acceptable on Yom Tov.
But there is also the consideration that there’s no way of getting around the fact that – even with one of the old ones – at some point after you turn the hot water off the burner will go out (if you weren’t to turn it off there’s a good likelihood it’ll keep going so I think we can consider it going off as being directly due to turning off the water) and that is likely to meet the definition of extinguishing on YT which isn’t permitted. I doubt anyone wants to leave one of these going the whole time.
Modern devices also have electronic sensors and circuitry to control the electronic ignition and that adds another layer to why we may not use them.
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