Why You Should Consider a Tankless Water Heater. If you are looking to replace your old, out-dated storage tank water heater, you will find any number of benefits to take into account if you’re contemplating transitioning to a tankless water heater. Tankless water heaters, also known as demand-type or instantaneous water heaters, provide hot water only as it is needed. They don’t produce the standby energy losses associated with storage water heaters, which can save you money.
You probably have heard the horror tales of folks who came home from work or vacation trips and discovered their houses flooded because their hot water heaters rusted through or malfunctioned in some other way.
Tankless water heaters work in an entirely different approach as compared to traditional units. Conventional units operate by retaining water in a tank and keeping that water at a relatively high temperature to ensure that it may be piped to the hot water faucet when it is turned on. Gas tankless water heaters, which use high-powered burners to quickly heat water as it runs through a heat exchanger, were 22 percent more energy efficient on average than the gas-fired storage-tank models in our tests. It could take up to 20 years to recoup the extra expense of installing a tankless water heater.
Tankless water heaters, in comparison, have sensors that identify when you’re using hot water and regulate the flow of water through your pipes to provide hot water in as little as two seconds! This means the heating mechanism is not continually working like in a conventional model, thereby saving energy and reducing your utility costs significantly. Finally, as the name implies, these heaters do not have a holding tank. The main advantages of tankless water heaters are a plentiful continuous flow of hot water (as compared to a limited flow of continuously heated hot water from conventional tank water heaters), and potential energy savings under some conditions.
Do you wish to convert that hot water heater closet to needed space? The tankless water heater is a fraction the proportions of a standard unit. It can be easily almost any place. Something to think about when selecting the placement is how long you’re prepared to wait for the hot water to reach your shower, washer, or wherever it is needed and whether or not the unit will be shielded from outside weather. As long as it’s correctly vented and wrapped ( if exposed to cold temperatures), a tankless water heater will perform efficiently in a garage. Just make sure that it’s impossible that a vehicle could contact or cause damage to it.
Hot water tanks, both conventional and tankless are inspected as part of a Barrie Home Inspection. Call the Barrie Home Inspector for a Risk Free home inspection.