6 Reasons to Consider a Tankless Water Heater
The first thing to do when you need to install a new water heater is to decide which type of unit is the best option for your Roseville, MI, home or business. Tank water heaters are still the most common type, but tankless water heaters have been gaining a lot of traction over the past few decades due to the many advantages they provide.
1. Superior Energy Efficiency
One of the primary reasons that many home and business owners are now opting to install tankless water heaters is to save on energy costs. Exactly how much you can save depends on your daily hot water needs, but a tankless water heater typically uses anywhere from 10% to 30% less energy than a tank water heater. The savings are always greatest if you use no more than 40 gallons of hot water in an average day. Nonetheless, you will usually still see some savings even if you use around 80 gallons per day. The only time you may not end up saving on energy is if you have unusually high daily hot water needs.
All tank water heaters waste energy via standby heat loss. Even though all hot water tanks are insulated, the water stored inside the tank slowly cools down over time. This results in the unit needing to run occasionally to heat the water back up to the correct temperature. Even if the building is unoccupied throughout the day, the standby heat loss still results in the water heater usually running at least 3 or 4 times a day for around 30 minutes each time. If the building is occupied and you’re occasionally using hot water, your water heater will run more often.
Tankless water heaters waste minimal energy since they don’t have any issues with heat loss and can heat water extremely quickly. Instead of having to store a large volume of hot water to ensure your needs are met, tankless water heaters only heat on demand. The only time the unit will run is when you turn a faucet or shower on hot. The unit will then shut off immediately when you turn the hot water off.
2. Limitless Supply of Hot Water
Another issue when you have a tank water heater is that it’s easy to end up running out of hot water. If you have a family of four, even an 80-gallon tank may not be enough for everyone to shower back-to-back before your hot water runs out. When you run out of hot water, you will usually need to wait a minimum of 30 minutes before your water is hot again. If you have a large hot water tank or an electric unit, you may need to wait anywhere from one to two hours for the water to get hot.
This is another area where a tankless water heater has a major advantage since it can supply as much hot water as you need. The unit can also supply a certain volume of hot water at a time. You still won’t have to worry about the water suddenly going cold in the middle of a shower or not having hot water for whatever else you need.
3. Long Life Expectancy
Although tankless water heaters are more expensive, the fact that they last longer than tank units usually more than offsets the higher initial cost. You’re lucky if a tank water heater lasts for more than 12 to 15 years, but you can typically expect a tankless unit to last a minimum of 20 years. With regular maintenance, you can potentially extend the life of the unit to 25 or 30 years. You can save money by not needing to replace the water heater in your home or business as often.
4. Low Maintenance Requirements
Tank water heaters require quite a bit of yearly maintenance to continue working properly and heating efficiently. Without regular maintenance, many tank water heaters will end up failing within 8 to 10 years or sometimes sooner. Tankless water heaters should also be professionally maintained every year, but the overall maintenance requirements are much lower. With a tank unit, you need to make sure to drain and flush the tank at least once a year. In most cases, you’re better off flushing the tank twice a year to prevent issues with corrosion and poor efficiency.
With a tankless water heater, the main thing that needs to be done is flushing and descaling the unit every year to get rid of any mineral deposits. For gas units, it’s also important to have a plumber inspect the burner and make sure that the unit is properly venting the exhaust fumes outside.
5. Less Risk of Leaks
Hot water tanks are strong and durable, but the steel still ends up slowly corroding over time. Replacing the anode rod inside the tank every few years helps to slow the rate of corrosion since minerals mostly react with the metal coating on the rod instead of the steel tank. Nonetheless, there is nothing you can do to fully prevent rust and corrosion unless you spend more on a unit that has a stainless-steel tank. The issue with rust and corrosion is that it eventually creates a risk of the tank beginning to leak. Once the tank has started to leak, there is also a high chance of it suddenly rupturing and causing a massive flood. If your water heater ruptures and you don’t immediately shut the water to it off, you’ll end up with hundreds of gallons flooding the surrounding areas in just a short time.
A tankless water heater can also leak, but it won’t cause nearly as much water damage if you catch the leak straight away. In most cases, all you really need to worry about is the possibility of the hot or cold-water connection that attaches to the unit coming loose and leaking, which is also a possibility with a tank unit.
6. Space Saving
One last thing to consider, when deciding between a tankless and a tank water heater, is the unit’s space requirements. Even a 40-gallon tank water heater takes up quite a bit of space that you could instead use for storage or anything else. Tankless water heaters are comparatively quite small and can be mounted on almost any wall inside your home or business. That means you can choose to install the unit inside a closet or in your attic, crawl space, or garage.
C & C Heating & Air Conditioning has been serving Roseville and the Greater Detroit Metro area for more than 60 years. You can count on us for all your heating, air conditioning, and water heater needs. We offer a range of tankless and tank water heaters, and our team will work with you to ensure that you get the right unit for your home or business. Contact us today for more information on our water heater installation services or to schedule a service appointment.
