Hot Water Plumbing from Microwaves

Here's an interesting one. A new microwave device has been announced
which can generate large amounts of hot water on demand:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051122.gthotwater1122/BNStory/Technology


A competing device is being offered by Electro-Silica:

http://www.pmengineer.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2732,96706,00.html


This eliminates the need to have a hot-water boiler tank to give hot
water plumbing. The unit uses microwave energy to heat the water more
efficiently than a hot water boiler, and can thus save a lot on energy
costs.

They say the tankless approach is also more hygienic as hot water
boiler tanks are a source of stagnant water where bacteria can breed.

Seems like a clever idea, and easier to install. Consider that you
would never run out of hot water, as with the case of the hot water
boiler tank when it runs out of stored hot water.
Their description of the unit indicates compact size, allowing savings
on space by replacing hot water boilers which are usually fairly large.


Hmm, so what are the drawbacks, people? While microwave magnetrons are
supposed to be less-energy efficient than heating coils, I guess
they're still able to save on energy overall because a smaller
magnetron would work as well as a big fat heavy-resistance heating
coil, since microwaves heat across a volume unlike convective heat
transfer across an area. Am I correct on that?

Comments? Critiques?

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