Is Tankless Water Heater the Right Choice?

With the expense of energy increasing, many of us are looking for ways to save money on our regular monthly electric or gas expenses. In your search for methods to stretch a dollar, you might have heard of a tankless hot water heater.

A tankless water heater, whether gas or electric, is created to heat water just on demand. Basically, water leaves your water line and enters the heater, and flows around a heating system en-route to the point of usage without whatever being stored and given the chance to cool off again. The key function is that the heater does not turn on up until it senses that a hot water tap is being opened. In short, the water is warmed as part of the shipment process and just when it will be used instantly. This is in contrast to a normal tank water heater that holds gallons of water (40 gallons is typical) in a constantly heated state. Even if you are not home for the weekend, the tank heater is diligently warming the water to your desired temperature level and after that heating it once again as it cools down. The electric tankless hot water heater only heats up water once which is where the savings come into play.

The problem is that the cost savings can be significantly greater or lower depending upon your particular scenario. However, as a rule of thumb, a household should recognize 30% savings on energy-related to warm water use. This might work out as follows:

Tank heater cost per month - $50. Tankless cost at 30% reduction each month - $35. Cost savings monthly - $15. Cost savings each year - $180.

$ 180 each year is nothing to sneeze at however a tankless system may not make sense depending on a few other variables. If you live in an extremely cold environment, it takes more energy to heat up the water.

In addition, it costs about $700 for a set up tank water heater but 2 to 3 times that quantity for a tankless system. This equates to roughly $700 - $1,400 additional dollars out of your pocket. At a $180 yearly expense decrease, it will take 3.5 to 8 years to recuperate the extra expense and start to save cash. If you intend on relocating the next couple of years, a tankless system makes definitely no sense. Additionally, if you have a gas system, you will require to customize the gas lines feeding the heater and this can be extremely expensive. Obviously, this expense is not a concern if you are taking a look at installing it in a brand-new home.

Taking this as a whole, we can conclude that vacation homes or households with low hot water usage generally would not benefit financially from a tankless system. However, if you are a big family with high-frequency bathing and laundering, it may be a great fit for you.

There are other non-economic reasons for setting up a tankless system. Tankless systems last twice as long as tank hot water heater and they don’t fail catastrophically. It is not uncommon for a tank system to stop working and spill all forty or two gallons of water into the home. This volume of water can do significant damage in short order - destroyed drywall, messed up carpet, damaged electrical systems, etc. The cost to repair this damage can run upwards of thousands of dollars. The tankless system prevents this and offers you with peace of mind knowing that you do not have a prospective hydro-time bomb in your utility closet.

Another major reason for individuals electing a tankless system is avoidance of the “shower freezing dance.” If you have ever been midway through a shower and had the warm water give out, you know what I suggest. With a tankless system, you have unrestricted hot water considering that the water is being warmed on the fly and not from a kept container. No more waiting on the tank to heat more after your teen took a fifty-minute shower while the dishwasher was running.

A tankless system is much smaller sized than a tank system. If your heater is in an inconvenient area or a tight area, a tankless system might be able to help you out.

Finally, people that are eco-conscious will choose the tankless system as well. Even if energy cost savings are low, every bit counts. And with the twenty-year life span of the tankless system, there is less contamination and energy utilized manufacturing yet another hot water heater at the ten-year mark when a traditional system would stop working.

Whether a tankless water heater is a good fit for you depends very much on your specific circumstances. However, with a little research and believed you might be able to conserve cash and have a more comfortable shower!