point-of-use water heater

I have been told that I have a hot water leak in my slab and that instead of digging up the leak, I need to re-route the hot water from the manifold to my kitchen sink. In order to avoid tearing up the walls, I would like to cap off the leaky line and install a point-of-use water heater under the kitchen sink. The heater would service the sink and dishwasher. What I can't determine is if the model I've chosen, the Ariston GL4, will provide enough hot water to do the job. Any advice on choosing an economical electric POU heater that would service both the sink and dishwasher (not simultaneously). Also, any advice on re-routes in general?

Thanks,
Margaret

The Ariston GL4 is a 4 gallon heater. It should provide enough for the sink but I don't know how many gallons the dishwasher uses. If the dishwasher has a heater (most do) that will make up for the fact that some of the water will be warm. It will probably extend the cycle.

You should be able to re-route a hot water line using PEX without tearing up too much. I assume that you are in a moderate climate becuase most houses where it is really cold have basements. By running a hot water line to the POU heater, you get instant hot water even with long runs, and the line makes up with hot when it finally gets there.

You should find the shortest route, probably through the attic and maybe from a nearby bathroom.

If your existing heater is gas, you will want to use that because of lower fuel charges. If your existing water heater is electric, you might want to just put a 10 gallon heater in the attic or some place near the kitchen, instead of the Ariston, and abandon the hot water line to the kitchen.

If you have one leak, you should consider that the first of others likely to come. You might want to hold off the re-route until you get another, or plan to re-route both hot and cold now.

Bob's advice (it's not the leak, it's the first leak) is well taken. You should probably have a Plan B to reroute all supply plumbing overhead.

Also, remember that when you "cap off the line", you have to cap it off upstream from the leak, which may not be in an easily accessible location. Just capping it off at the sink won't do. (I know this seems obvious, but I also know of a house where this was done.)

leak

Depending on the cause of the leak, it could be the first leak, or it could be the only one they will ever have. I, so far, have only known a couple of homes that had more than one leak in the slab, and the ones they do have are caused by poor installation practices, not bad water.

I guess it's dependent on location as well. It's very common here, and re-plumbing overhead is commonly advertised in the Yellow Pages (tm). I suspect it's mostly dependent on what was used to fill beneath the slab and how/if the pipes were protected. In my case, I'm told the original owner dredged the lake bottom to get the fill, and the soft tubing was run naked. There are no joints under the slab, supposedly. Now they use clean sand for fill, and either use CPVC or protect the copper with some kind of covering I'm not familiar with.