The use of tankless water heaters is continuing to grow year after year and it likely won’t be long before they surpass the use of traditional water heaters. It’s not that traditional water heaters are necessarily bad. Instead, it’s just that there are a number of areas where they simply can’t compete with tankless units. This article will explore the ways that a tankless water heater is superior as well as look at how this type of unit works and what to look for in a new tankless unit.
What Is a Tankless Water Heater?
What makes tankless water heaters unique is that they’re the only type of water heater that heats on demand. Instead of storing water and having to always keep it fully hot as a traditional water heater does, a tankless unit only runs when it needs to. This is the primary reason why tankless units are more efficient. If you have a traditional water heater, it will occasionally need to run even if you haven’t used any hot water that day.
Gas and electric tankless water heaters both work in the same way except that they obviously use a different method for producing heat. Gas units have a burner that burns natural gas or propane, which produces extremely hot combustion fumes. Electric units instead have several electric resistance heating coils that get extremely hot when electricity flows through them.
When you turn the hot water on anywhere in your house, water immediately starts flowing through a pipe within the tankless water heater. In a gas unit, this pipe forms a series of coils that wrap around the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is the pipe that the hot combustion fumes flow up through before exiting the unit and venting outside via the exhaust flue. In an electric unit, the pipe snakes back and forth along the electric resistance heating elements.
In either case, all of the heat the unit produces flows out and is absorbed by the water as it moves through the pipe. The result is that the water quickly gets heated to the correct temperature by the time it flows out through the outlet pipe and into the rest of your plumbing system. The unit also monitors the temperature of the water so that it can regulate how much heat it puts out and ensure the water never gets too hot.
Advantages Tankless Water Heaters Have Over Traditional Units
There are a few reasons that tankless water heaters are quickly becoming to go-to choice for so many homeowners. One is their superior energy efficiency, which results in a tankless unit reducing a home’s water heating costs by quite a bit. Depending on your typical daily hot water demands, you’ll likely save anywhere from 10% to 35% on your water heating costs with a tankless unit. If you have a larger household with a much higher hot water demand, your savings will usually be on the lower end of this range. Nonetheless, you’re almost guaranteed to save at least some on your energy bills.
Another great thing about tankless water heaters is that they typically last almost twice as long as traditional units. That means you can also save in the future by not needing to replace your water heater as often. With regular maintenance, a new tankless unit will usually last for a minimum of 20-25 years. Tankless units also tend to require fewer repairs and are easy to maintain. There is less chance of your water heater leaking and causing a major flood as well. Flooding is a concern with traditional units since the tank can end up rusting through and suddenly rupturing.
One of the main reasons you find so many new homes with a tankless water heater is that they’re quite small and don’t take up nearly as much space as storage-tank units. That means you don’t need as large of a utility room and can use the home’s space more effectively.
One final advantage is that you’ll basically have an unlimited supply of hot water. Unless your tankless water heater suddenly quits working for some reason, you can shower for as long as you want without the water going cold.
Another thing to note is that more and more people are choosing to install a point-of-use tankless water heater in the bathroom along with a traditional water heater. In this type of setup, the unit in the bathroom would just supply water to your shower, bathroom sink and possibly your washing machine. The traditional unit would then supply water to the rest of the house. You can also choose to install two point-of-use units, one to supply hot water to your kitchen and the other to supply your bathroom.
Are There Are Disadvantages to a Tankless Water Heater?
There are really only two areas where traditional water heaters have an advantage over tankless units. The first is in the upfront cost since you’ll always pay less if you opt to install a traditional unit. Nonetheless, you’ll usually pay less overall if you choose a tankless unit as a result of it using less energy and lasting longer.
The other drawback of a tankless unit is that you can be a bit more restricted as to how many plumbing fixtures and appliances you can use at the same time. However, this depends on what the flow rate of the unit you choose is since this determines how many gallons of hot water it can produce per minute.
If the unit’s flow rate is under 4 gallons per minute, you usually won’t be able to shower at the same time as your dishwasher or washing machine is running. You technically could, but you’d end up with weak pressure whenever the appliance’s rinse cycle is running. If your dishwasher or washing machine is closer to the water heater than your shower, the water coming out of your shower would also not be as hot as you want at times or occasionally fluctuate in temperature.
What to Consider When Installing a Tankless Water Heater
The first thing you need to decide when choosing a tankless water heater is whether you want a gas or electric unit. Electric units require much more energy to run. The possible exception is if you have smaller point-of-use electric units instead of a whole-home gas unit. The main drawback to a gas unit is the risk of carbon monoxide leaking out into the house if the unit isn’t properly vented.
The other main thing you need to do to ensure you get the right tankless water heater unit is to determine what flow rate you need. This is fairly simple and just involves thinking about how many fixtures and appliances you would typically have running at the same time. All you then need to do is add up how many gallons each of them uses per minute to find the total flow rate necessary to supply all of these things at once. If you’re unsure of how many gallons each fixture and appliance uses per minute, a plumber can easily help you determine the minimum flow rate you need.
Whether you need to install a new water heater or require any other plumbing, HVAC or electrical services in the Denver area, you can rely on the experts at Summit Heating, A/C, Plumbing & Electrical. We’re a locally-owned company that’s been serving the area since 1998, and you can trust us to reliably handle all of your home service needs. To set up a consultation and get help with choosing the right water heater for your home and family, contact us today.
