Tankless Water Heaters

There’s no doubt about it; tankless water heaters are becoming more popular in homes every day. Running out of hot water will never be a problem with a compact, ultra-efficient tankless water heater that heats water as you need it.

With as many benefits as they come with, tankless water heaters can be a significant investment, so it’s important to be informed before you buy.

How Do Tankless Water Heaters Work?

Tankless water heaters use an electric element or gas burner to warm the water as it travels through the unit. This design means that the heater is only heating the water that you are signaling you need through your faucets and showerheads.

Unlike traditional water heaters, the hot water is not stored in the tank, so there is far less waste and no risk of running out of hot water.

The Pros and Cons of Tankless Water Heaters

Tankless water heaters offer lots of benefits to homeowners in Carrollton, like energy efficiency and an unlimited hot water supply. However, they do come with some downsides, including upfront costs and sensitivity.

Pro: Space

Tankless water heaters are significantly smaller than traditional water heaters. They are compact and can fit in more spaces in your home, like in the attic. With conventional water heaters, the tank size can be a real problem and can leave you with only a couple of location options. This problem is solved with tankless water heaters.

Pro: Instant Hot Water

If you’ve used a traditional water heater, you know that it can take a while for the water to get warm. With a tankless water heater, once the cold water is flushed from the pipes, you’ll get hot water almost instantly. Not only does this save you time, but it saves a significant amount of water.

Pro: Lifespan

A major advantage of tankless units is their lifespan. The average tankless water heater will last 20 years. Compare this to a high-quality traditional water heater which only lasts about 10.

While it can be tempting to save costs upfront by installing a traditional heater, you should seriously consider the long-term savings that come with the long lifespan of a tankless heater.

Pro: Energy Efficiency

Old water heaters are not known for efficiency. In fact, they can be downright wasteful.

Traditional heaters fill up a large tank with water then use energy 24/7 to make sure you have hot water on demand. Because tankless water heaters heat on demand, they are as much as 25% more efficient than standard models. Not only is the energy efficiency more environmentally friendly, but it will result in savings in your monthly energy bill. 

Pro: Safety

If a traditional water heater leaks, it will spill gallons of water which can easily flood a basement. Tankless water heaters are less prone to leaks, and there is far less water when they do happen.

Additionally, tankless water heaters are installed with the air supply and exhaust vents sealed. This approach means that carbon monoxide can’t leak into your house, a safety feature that you won’t have with traditional water heaters.

Pro: Easy to Winterize

If you are the owner of a vacation home in the Carrollton area, a tankless water heater can offer significant convenience when it comes to winterizing your home. It takes a big-time investment to drain a traditional water heater before locking up for the winter. With a tankless water heater, you can drain it in just a few seconds, then unplug it. 

Con: Trouble Keeping Up

Tankless water heaters can supply an unlimited stream of hot water to a faucet, but they may have trouble keeping up with multiple hot water demands at once. For example, if someone in the home is running the dishwasher while another is taking a shower, a tankless water heater may have trouble keeping up.

Compare this with a traditional water heater that can store up to 80 gallons of hot water at once and easily provide hot water to multiple outlets.

Con: Ongoing Maintenance

While any water heating system will require maintenance, tankless water heaters often require slightly more maintenance than a traditional hot water system. To keep the manufacturer warranty valid, homeowners should perform annual maintenance and, in some cases, may be required to install a water softener.

It is also a good idea for owners to flush out their systems every year. Flushing the system prevents mineral build-up in the water line or the heater itself. There are costs associated with this maintenance, so it is something to factor into your overall budget. 

Con: Higher Upfront Cost

No matter what water heating system you choose, the installation process can be a significant investment in your home. Tankless water heaters are almost always more expensive than traditional systems.

Additionally, the labor required to install tankless water heaters is also higher than for traditional systems. While the energy savings and longer lifespan usually offset these costs, the upfront expense is certainly something to consider. 

Con: Inconsistent Temperatures

Even though traditional water heaters are inefficient, they are consistent. You can expect the same temperature every time you adjust your faucet to the same setting. Tankless water heaters have historically not had the same performance when it comes to consistency.

Consumers have complained about inconsistent water temperatures, which is likely the result of the limitations of sending hot water to multiple locations.

Another thing to be aware of is the tankless water heater may not always come on if enough water isn’t flowing. For example, if the faucet is only slightly open, the tankless water heater may not start heating the water, so the water will never warm up.

Conclusion

Each homeowner’s situation is different, and a tankless water heater may make more sense for some families than others. Before making this investment, make sure you consider all of the factors to make the right decision for you.

If you are ready to move forward with your tankless water heater installation in Carrollton, trust Sirius Plumbing and Air Conditioning. We have over two decades of experience in the industry, and we treat our customers like family. Contact us today.

Living in Frisco with its snowy winters, you may have experienced the trouble of losing hot water right when you need it. If you have a tank-based water heater you’re given a certain volume of heated water that, once gone, needs time to replenish itself. This will take anywhere between forty minutes to over an hour, depending on the model.

You may have heard through research or word of mouth that tankless, or “on-demand” water heaters can provide an unlimited supply of hot water, assuming you stay below the maximum flow rate. This is good news for the leisurely shower-takers in your household, but a tankless water heater comes with other perks as well.

Keep reading to learn of three surprising benefits that come with making the switch to a tankless water heater.

Penny Spent, Penny Saved

Shopping around for tankless water heaters, you may notice that they’re considerably more expensive than tank-based models. There are reasons for this that we’ll get into next, but rest assured this price tag will pay for itself in time.

Energy Efficiency

The U.S. Department of Energy has shown that tankless water heaters are anywhere between 8-50% more efficient than other alternatives, depending on use. And while tank-based heaters are heating water 24/7, even if you’re not using it, a tankless water heater heats as needed. This means it negates the cost of energy other heaters would’ve been wasting.

This is seen most remarkably in smaller homes or ones that use less than 41 gallons of water per day, but even in more water-dependent households the savings are noticeable. According to Energy Star, you have the potential to make back the money spent on a tankless heater well within its lifespan.

Other Savings

Another way you can make back installation cost is to take advantage of the federal tax advantages that come with installing such an energy-efficient appliance. Currently, the federal government is offering a 10% tax credit towards the cost and installation of a tankless water heater. That’s money back in your pocket, and an eco-friendly supply of hot water for your household.

Big Life in a Small Space

The main reason why tankless water heaters are more expensive than the tank-based models is because of their lifespan. While even the most high-quality traditional water heater will last about a decade, a tankless model boasts a lifespan double that.

Warranty Wellness

For an appliance that lasts as long as your average tankless water heater, you want a security plan that can accommodate it. Most traditional, gas or electric tank-heaters have a warranty of about five or six years. This leaves a stretch of time before you need to think about replacing it where, if something goes wrong, you’ll have to pay to fix it out-of-pocket.

Compare this to a tankless water heater, which comes with a warranty that can last up to twenty years – roughly the entire lifespan of the appliance itself. As long as you take the necessary steps to keep this warranty vaid, meaning performing annual maintenance that you should be doing anyway, your tankless heater is covered until it’s time to replace it.

Saving Space

If you were to arrange a boxing match between a tankless and a tank-style heater, it’s undeniable that the tanked heater would win. We’ll admit it. Coming in at 150 pounds and over four feet tall, this 40-gallon behemoth would take down a tankless water heater in a cagematch almost immediately.

But when it comes to inviting these two options into your home, you might not have the room to accommodate a tank-based water heater. If that’s the case, a tankless model may be more appealing. Unlike their older sibling, they’re a little over two feet tall and weigh about as much as a Boston Terrier.

And while they aren’t as cute as a terrier, they’ll definitely stay in one place, mounted to the wall where they’ll take up little room, and are guaranteed not to pee on your rug.

Staying Safe

After enough time with a tank-based water heater, accumulating build-up within the tank is inevitable. When this happens, it isn’t long before the tank will corrode and eventually leak, which can cause water damage and even risk of flooding if the leak is strong enough.

Of course, since a tankless water heater doesn’t have a tank, you negate a lot of these risks, and while a leak is possible with regular maintenance it’s not likely. And, beyond leaks, ditching the tank also provides a level of safety for the worst-case scenarios.

Bursting Tanks and Tainted Water

Tank-style heaters, in accordance with current code, come with a temp and pressure relief valve that works to eliminate the risk of the tank exploding. This is an awful thing to consider, and it’s fairly rare, but the chances of this happening increase as minerals and other build-up clog the valve.

If you don’t have a tank, this won’t be a problem. Getting rid of the tank also allows more precise control over the heat of the water that you use, preventing possible incidental burns. It also ensures that the contaminants that build up over time in a tanked system don’t travel into your water lines and expose your households to toxins.

Choosing a Tankless Water Heater for your Frisco Home

There are many arguments towards switching to a tankless water heater. They don’t work with a pilot light, and because of that are less likely to overheat and build up pressure over time. And they’re easy to store in even the smallest homes, with a size and weight that’ll fit nicely in most closets.

Ultimately, when choosing between a tank versus tankless water heater for your Frisco home, you want to take into consideration the size of your household and the amount of water that you use. More than that, you should think about if a tankless heater will fit in your lifestyle.

Can you keep up with maintenance? Are you tech savvy enough to take advantage of a tankless water heater’s Wi-Fi compatibility? If the answer to questions like these is yes, a tankless water heater may fit well for you.