Having a reliable source of hot water in your home is one key to living a comfortable life in Rockwall. Whether you’re taking a shower or doing a load of laundry, hot water is essential to many aspects of everyday tasks. That’s why choosing the right water heater for your home is so important.
Typically, you will have the choice of two types of water heaters: standard and tankless. Both types of water heaters have pros and cons that you should understand before making your final decision. Here are some insights from your friends at Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric to help you find the best one for your situation.
Basic Differences
If you’re new to tankless water heaters, you might be curious about what makes them stand apart from their standard counterparts. A tankless water heater doesn’t store any hot water. Instead, it produces hot water when you need it by passing cold water through a series of copper tubes that pass by a heat source. By the time it leaves the tankless unit, the water will have reached the temperature you select on the control panel. Tankless units can be powered by either natural gas or electricity. They also come in a range of sizes and heating capacities.
Upfront Costs
In general, the upfront costs for a tankless water heater will be higher than those of a standard water heater. Tankless water heaters contain a lot of copper, and since copper is expensive, this increases the price of the unit. Installation costs also tend to be higher, especially if you’re replacing a standard water heater with a tankless model.
It’s important to note that the cost of many standard water heaters continues to rise. That’s because the efficiency standards for larger water heaters require them to be made in a way that increases manufacturing costs. Therefore depending on your hot water needs, the price differences between tankless and standard water heaters may not be as high as you expected.
Lifespan
When thinking about the upfront costs of a water heater, you also need to consider the lifespan of the water heater. If a unit costs more initially but lasts longer, you’ll have more years over which to spread out the initial costs and save for a new unit when the current one stops working. Typically, standard water heaters are rated to last approximately 10 to 15 years. Tankless units, on the other hand, can last for at least 20 years. Multiple variables affect the lifespan of water heaters, so it’s a good idea to talk with Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric to see how you can help protect your water heater.
Operating Costs
When it comes to operating costs, tankless water heaters are the clear winners. Since tankless water heaters don’t store water, they don’t have to use any energy to help keep the water warm. This eliminates the standby energy use associated with that standard water heaters, and you’ll have noticeably lower energy usage each month. Over the lifetime of a unit, a tankless water heater’s reduced appetite for energy can go a long way toward recouping the higher initial costs of the unit.
You can also reduce the standby energy usage of a standard water heater, but these techniques often require spending more money on top of what you already spent for the water heater.
Production Capacity
If you tend to use a lot of hot water at one time, Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric might sometimes recommend a standard water heater for your home. That’s because a standard water heater’s ability to deliver hot water doesn’t diminish when multiple fixtures are using hot water. As long as there is hot water in the tank, a standard water heater can reliably supply your entire home with hot water. However, if you can avoid washing dishes or doing laundry while someone else is taking a shower, a tankless unit is typically the best option. You can also upgrade to a tankless water heater with a higher production capacity to allow you to use multiple fixtures without exhausting the hot water supply.
Temperature Consistency
Waiting for hot water to reach certain fixtures in your home can be frustrating. With a standard water heater, when the water gets to the fixture, the water will typically stay hot for a little while even if you turn the fixture off briefly. This is not the case with a tankless water heater. Since these units only produce hot water when there is demand for hot water, they immediately shut down when you turn off the faucet or other fixture. This means you will have to restart the waiting process for hot water every time you turn the water back on. Fortunately, you can work around this by having Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric install recirculation valves in line with frequently used fixtures. These keep hot water in the hot water supply line so that you don’t have multiple waiting periods.
Space Requirements
A tankless water heater is quite tiny compared to a standard water heater. With no need for a tank to store water, tankless water heaters are small enough to mount on a wall. This makes them a great choice for people who have little space to spare. For example, if your home’s comfort equipment is located in a utility closet, the smaller tankless water heater can be a game changer. You’ll be more easily able to access your HVAC system, air purification system, and any other equipment located in the closet. Even better, all the internal and external components of a tankless water heater are easy to access, making most maintenance and repair procedures quick and easy.
Infrastructure Needs
When a tankless unit is heating water, it needs a lot of energy to get the job done. If you opt for a gas or electric tankless water heater, you might need to upgrade your energy supply lines to ensure adequate operation. An electric tankless unit will require a dedicated circuit in your breaker box, but if that circuit box is already close to capacity, you will need to talk to an electrician about installing a larger box and higher-capacity main line. If this infrastructure is already in place, installing a tankless water heater is fairly straightforward.
Keeping You Comfortable In Your Home
At Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric, our main goal is to ensure each customer receives the home-comfort solutions that will best fit their lifestyle. That’s why we install, maintain, and repair tankless and standard water heaters throughout the region. We also install air conditioners, repair furnaces, detect and repair leaks, repair burst pipes, install generators, repair electrical outlets, and much more. For more than a decade, we have offered quality service delivered with professional expertise. Plus, we’re rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and consistently receive glowing five-star customer reviews. To learn more about water heaters, contact us at Bacon Plumbing Heating Air Electric today.
