When it’s time to invest in a new hot water heater for your home, you have two main options to choose from. These are the traditional tank-style water heaters and the newer tankless hot water heaters. We’re going to compare and contrast both models so that you have a better understanding of how each system operates and which one is best for your home.
Traditional Tanked Water Heater
Before we jump into how one of the newer tankless hot water heaters works, we’re going to start by discussing how the traditional tank-style water heater works as it provides a good basis to start the conversation. A tank-style water heater has a large cylindrical storage tank that fills with water. The water heater will heat this water to whatever temperature you have set on your water heater’s thermostat. Traditional models can use different types of fuel including natural gas and electricity.
Once the water heater shuts off, it will monitor the temperature of the water in its tank. When the water temperature drops below your setting, it will create heat and warm up the water again. This type of water heater continually heats your water to ensure that it’s at the appropriate temperature when you use it. It’s important to note that a tank-style water heater has a limited capacity of water.
If you were to turn on your hot water faucet and let it run, you only have as much hot water as your storage tank can hold. For example, if your storage tank has a 60-gallon capacity, you would only get 60 gallons of hot water before it turns cold. Your tank would have to fill with water again and spend an hour or so reheating the water up to your desired temperature.
Tankless Water Heaters
The main difference between a traditional water heater and a tankless water heater installation is that there’s no tank on the newer versions. Instead of holding water in a tank, these water heaters only kick on whenever you turn on the hot water faucet. As soon as you turn the faucet on and water starts to move through your water supply lines, your tankless water heater will kick on and start heating the water as it flows.
It will continually heat the water for as long as you run your faucet. This means that you can have virtually endless amounts of hot water to meet your every need. Tankless water heaters can run on a few different types of fuel, including natural gas, propane, and electricity.
These tankless models have a thermostat, just like the tank-style water heater, that allows you to set your desired water temperature. This type of thermostat will measure the temperature of the water coming in and determine how much it needs to heat the water to get to your desired temperature. All of this is typically done in a digital format for ease of use.
Understanding Gallons Per Minute
With a traditional tank-style water heater, you simply select a tank capacity that meets your household’s hot water demands. When it comes to a tankless water heater, there is no gallon capacity rating. Rather, these water heaters use a gallon-per-minute rating or GPM for short. When determining the appropriate GPM for your new water heater, it’s important to understand the flow rate of all the different fixtures and appliances throughout your home.
You want to choose a GPM that will be able to supply an adequate amount of hot water to multiple different fixtures and appliances that are running at the same time. It’s important to get a professional to help you determine this GPM rating, as purchasing a unit with too small of a rating can fall short of your hot water demand.
Maintenance Requirements
Tankless water heaters require professional maintenance service just like traditional tanked water heaters. Ideally, you’ll want to have a professional service your new tankless water heater at least once a year. If you live in a region with very hard water and you don’t use a water softener system, you may want to have us come out twice a year to service your unit. As a homeowner, you’ll want to ensure that you regularly clean the filter inside your water heater. Optimally, you’ll want to clean the filter every six months to remove unwanted debris from your system.
Optimal Energy Efficiency
One of the biggest reasons that tankless water heaters are becoming so popular is that they operate so much more efficiently than your traditional tank-style water heater. This simply comes down to the fact that they only run when you actually need hot water instead of running constantly to continually heat water that you’re not using. You may be eligible to receive a federal tax credit when you purchase a new tankless water heater, thanks to its high energy efficiency rating.
Endless Amount of Hot Water
Another great advantage of opting to go with a tankless water heater for your home is that it can provide you with an endless amount of hot water. There’s nothing worse than doing back-to-back showers and dealing with cold water. When you invest in a tankless water heater, you can be sure that you’ll have adequate hot water for all your needs throughout the day.
Longer System Lifespan
One great advantage of tankless water heaters over their traditional counterparts is they have a much longer lifespan. Tank water heaters last for anywhere between 8 to 12 years. On the other hand, tankless water heaters last anywhere between 15 and 20 years. This lifespan assumes that they receive proper care and maintenance.
Space-Saving Design
When you compare a tanked water heater to a tankless water heater side by side, there is a very clear difference in size between the two. Because the tanked water heater has such a large cylindrical storage tank, it takes up a lot of space. The tankless water heater doesn’t have a tank, so it takes up much less space. This space-saving design is great for those with a small amount of space, as it can fit perfectly in a utility room.
Higher Upfront Cost
While a tankless water heater is much more efficient than your traditional tanked water heater, it does come at a higher upfront cost. Tankless water heaters tend to cost around one and a half to two times more than traditional tanked water heaters. It’s also important to keep in mind that tankless water heaters last longer and operate much more efficiently, so you can likely recoup a lot of that upfront cost over the operational lifespan of your new unit.
Expert Tankless Water Heater Service
Delta Mechanical offers expert tankless water heater services to the Gilbert, AZ community. We can help with all your water heater, boiler, drain service, gas line, kitchen, bathroom, plumbing repair, leak detection, sewer line, repiping, sump pump, and water treatment needs. Call us today to book a consultation with one of our highly experienced plumbing professionals.
