Tankless Water Heaters: Wonder How You Ever Lived without Them

How can tankless water heaters help you? Let me count the ways.

1. Heating water with a tankless system saves an estimated 12 to 34 percent on your energy bill. For a typical residence, water heating represents 19 percent of total energy costs.
2. That savings can increase to a range of 28 to 50 percent if tankless water heaters are installed at every water outlet.
3. You’ll never run out of hot water, no matter how many showers and appliances are running at one time.
4. You’ll save space that was once occupied by a conventional water heater.
5. With multiple systems installed near each tap, you’ll save water because you won’t have to run it through such a distance of pipes to bring hot water to the tap.
6. You might be eligible for a tax credit on purchase and installation.
7. Bacteria can breed in conventional tank systems.

We could probably come up with at least ten compelling reasons to convert, but to realize all the advantages of tankless water heaters let’s move ahead to start a new list of items to consider:

1. To get the right size heater for your needs, you’ll have to consider factors such as flow rate and temperature rise.

2. Most systems require a minimum flow rate, between half a gallon to two gallons a minute, to avoid overheating.

3. A factory-trained plumber is your best bet. Installation can be tricky. One of the pitfalls of any gas heater is that if it not properly installed, it can create a negative pressure in the house that brings in exhaust gases like carbon monoxide.

4. Whole-house tankless systems can take as long to deliver hot water to the tap as conventional tank systems. Strategies to deal with this weakness are preheating and buffering.

Maybe by now you’ve come to the realization this is a job for professionals. Visit www.stackheating.com and click on “contact us” to get answers to your questions or find expert advice on tankless water heaters.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Stack Heating services Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding areas. To get started, check out our website.