Looking to save money on your energy bills and transform your home into a more sustainable overall space? You might want to look at your plumbing. Specifically, your hot water heater.
While conventional hot water tanks are effective at heating water and dispersing it to all the various household water-using appliances, they’re not very efficient. Nor are they long lasting. Tankless water heaters are an alternative that a growing number of households.
In this post, we’ll discuss some of the key efficiency benefits of tankless water heaters:
The biggest advantage of tankless water heaters over their conventional counterparts is the fact that they produce hot water on-demand. That is, when you need hot water, the heater kicks in and produces it. Conventional hot water heaters, on the other hand, store water in a 40 gallon water tank and the tank must routinely heat the water in order to keep it hot when property owners need to use it. Due to the on-demand features of a tankless water heater, they’re able to conserve up to 50 percent more energy than a conventional model. This translates to lower energy bills, up to hundreds of dollars in savings each year.
Additionally, since tankless heaters produce hot water on-demand, you’ll never have to worry about hot water running out or having to save enough hot water for the next person in your household to hop in the shower. You’ll have a virtually endless supply of hot water at your service when you choose a tankless option.
The average conventional hot water tank only lasts between six and 13 years, meaning that this is an appliance in your home that you’re likely going to have to replace several times throughout the course of your ownership. The nice thing about tankless water heaters is that they tend to last much longer than conventional ones, meaning you’ll get much more return on your investment. With the right care and maintenance, tankless water heaters can last for up to 20 years. Say you live in your home for 40 years. You’ll only need to replace your tankless heater once compared to anywhere from four to seven times you may need to replace a conventional heater.
Though it may not translate directly to efficiency, one of the other key benefits of a tankless heater is that it takes up significantly less space than a conventional unit. Most tankless heaters are no larger than a fuse box and are installed on the wall of your basement or crawlspace. This frees up a lot of floor space and allows you to do more with the room or area that it’s stored in. Comparatively speaking, conventional heaters are about 60 inches tall and up to 25 inches wide. What’s more is they need ample space for proper venting. It can eat up a significant portion of floor space.
For more information on the benefits of tankless water heaters and how they can save you money over the long term, contact Pilot Plumbing today.