Patent ID: 8014653

Claim:
A water heater comprising: a heater housing having a housing wall; a heater housing inlet in the housing wall for allowing a flow of water to enter the heater housing; a heater housing interior of the housing wall for allowing the flow of water to pass through the heater housing; a heater housing exterior of the housing wall opposite the heater housing interior; a heater housing outlet in the housing wall for allowing the flow of water to exit the heater housing; a heater element having a heating portion, a first end and a second end, the heating portion residing in the heater housing interior and the ends passing through the housing wall, the heater element comprising: an outer wall; an electrically conductive wire residing inside the outer wall and electrically insulated from the outer wall; and a heat conducting dielectric insulation filling a space between the electrically conductive wire and the outer wall; heater element passages in heater housing wall, wherein the heater element ends pass through the heater element passages; seals residing in direct contact with the heater element ends outside the heater housing exterior, the seals for containing the flow of water in the heater housing interior; and caps residing over the seals, the seals sandwiched between the caps and the housing wall.