Green plumbing is a popular topic these days and installing a tankless water heater is one of the primary ways homeowners can join the "green" revolution. Tankless units are a major advancement in plumbing technology but just what makes them so much better? This article will explain why storage type units are inefficient and why tankless is the better design.
Have you ever opened you electric bill and thought that you were paying way too much? I would bet the answer to that question is a resounding "yes!" Did you know that a significant portion of your monthly utility bill is directly attributable to your water heater? If you are one of the millions of people still using storage water heaters, you are wasting money every month. But this doesn't have to be the case. There are better alternatives on the market and, in this case, the better option is a tankless water heating system.
Now before we look at why tankless water heaters are more efficient, you have to realize that tank water heaters are actually very good at providing the hot water that is needed in most homes. They are also very reliable with a life span of 10 years or more. But they were originally designed almost 100 years ago. Much progress has been made to improve the efficiency of the design but the design is fundamentally flawed.
The flaw in the design relates to how the water that enters the tank is processed and heated prior to use in your home. The water supply will fill the tank and then the heating takes place. But if the water is not used quickly enough, then it will slowly begin to cool and require re-heating prior to being used. This heating and re-heating cycle is repeated again and again and again until the contents of the tank are used and then it starts all over with the new contents of the tank that replaces the water that was just used.
The answer to this flaw is a design that can heat the water on demand and only heat the water that is being used. That is the design of tankless water heating systems. It has been estimated that a tankless water heating system will lower the water heating portion of your utility bill by half. That is some significant savings!
But these savings come with a pretty hefty upfront cost. While these units are massively more efficient than tank systems, they cost more - a lot more. They are more expensive and they are more expensive for homeowners to have installed. According to some estimates, it may actually take a homeowner up to 20 years and possibly even longer to save enough money on their monthly energy costs to recoup this investment.
As an added bonus, tankless systems are very small compared to tank units. You will save a lot of space by replacing a tank based water heater with a tankless model. These ultra compact units are usually mounted on a wall and are about the size of a medicine cabinet.
That having been said, we live in a world where energy efficiency is a necessity and you have to be very careful about how much energy you are using and wasting. So, while not for everyone given the cost constraints, buying water heaters that will save energy will not only help you lower your expenses every month but also the environment at the same time.
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