Tankless water heaters are a great way to save up on energy consumption in your house. However, before you decide to have one installed in your house, it’s a good idea to understand the pros and cons of having this type of water heater.
Advantages
Tankless Water Heaters take up less Space
A tankless water heater takes up a minimal amount of space. The very smallest of them are attached right to the faucet whose water flow they are supposed to be heating up, such as a shower head. You therefore don’t have to worry about getting them their own space or room when you’re installing them. The very largest tankless water heater can simply be mounted on a wall.
They save Energy and Money
This is perhaps the greatest advantage of getting yourself a tankless water heater. For starters, a tankless water heater will save you energy. Here at Narwhal Plumbing, our clients say that installing a tankless water heater saves them up to 50 percent of the energy they would have otherwise consumed had they installed a water heater unit with a tank attached.
Tankless water heaters manage to do this because they only serve up the heat when it is needed, such as when you turn on the hot water tap. For this reason, they are also known as instant water heaters and on demand water heaters. By staying off during the rest of the time, they do not spend any energy. Water heater units with tanks, on the other hand, need to be constantly kept on in order to keep heating up the water continuously so that when you turn on the hot water, hot water actually comes out.
Tankless water heaters operate on a variety of energy sources, with the most common ones being propane or natural gas. The average water heating unit with a tank needs to be full of at least 40 gallons of water at any given time in order to have enough water to provide hot water on demand. This, however, is a waste, because all of that water needs to be heated while there is no guarantee that all of that water will be heated at any given time.
With a tankless water heater, you don’t keep any extra water on storage, which means you save up on the excess energy. Meanwhile, you still get a continuous flow of hot water.
Disadvantages
Cost
There is one major disadvantage that comes with tankless water heaters, and that is the amount of money you have to come up with upfront for the installation. It doesn’t do to get a smaller unit as it won’t be ideal for a large house, where plenty of hot water is needed. In case you want to use multiple faucets with hot water at a time, such a unit will bring up issues. The larger units that can serve your entire household are more expensive.
Also, because of the high powered burners used by the tankless water heaters, there are special requirements, such as venting, that should also be taken care of, and they need professionals to install.
In the end, however, the savings made over time make the upfront costs more than worthwhile.
Conclusion
Here at Narwhal Plumbers, we hold your hand every step of the way. We tell you about all the upfront costs so that you can figure out how it compares to your budget. We give you a detailed estimate of all installation costs and make your decision making process that much easier. We also have professionals at the ready to carry out all the installations so you don’t have to worry about whether the units were installed properly or not.
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