What You Should Know About Tankless Water Heaters

Tankless water heaters create instant, on-demand hot water. This means that water is heated the instant you need it, but only for as long as the hot water is being used. Conventional tank water heaters, on the other hand, heat water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - and you pay for the energy it takes to keep the water hot. Conventional tanks can, and do, run out of hot water when demand is high. How many baths or loads of laundry does it take in your home before someone gets stuck with an icy shower?

Most conventional tank heaters have upper and lower heating elements, one of which is cycling on or off 24 hours per day, even when you're not at home. This raises your heating bill, even when you aren't using water. Even worse, with a conventional tank heater, you are heating water to a ridiculously high temperature in order to maximize the available supply of hot water. When water reaches the tap, cold water must then be added so that the temperature is comfortable to the human touch. This process of heating water wastes valuable energy, not to mention water and money. When a hot water faucet is activated, the conventional tank heater is replenishing the tank with cold water at the same time, lowering the overall water temperature in the tank. This triggers the element to draw more power to reheat the water to the desired set temperature.

Because of this inefficient process, a 60-gallon tank only has 45 gallons of useable hot water. The other 15 gallons are lost as cold water is added to the tank during the usage process. In addition, a conventional tank heater is constantly radiating heat (loss), which also contributes to the re-heating rate and energy consumption. This type of heat loss is often referred to as "stand-by" heat loss. By eliminating stand-by heat loss alone, energy consumption can be reduced from 20 to 30%.

Using energy efficiently and conscientiously also reduces pollution, global warming, and waste. Water heating accounts for 20-30% of energy use in North American homes. This energy comes from hydroelectric power generation, the burning of the following fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and nuclear power. None are without environmental impacts. All lead to long-term significant and lasting environmental degradation that may include harmful waste bi-products, expensive remediation costs, depletion of the natural resource base, and wildlife habitat loss and biodiversity threats.

Reducing the amount of energy used to heat water will reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed and therefore the amount of resulting greenhouse gas emissions. A 50% reduction in energy consumption could result in a 50% reduction in the harmful effects, resource depletion, and infrastructure costs of supplying that power.

It has been reported that if wasteful tank heaters were replaced with high-efficiency tankless models, North American society could annually save:

290 million gallons of fuel oil a year;
164 million gallons of propane or
6 billion hours of kilowatt electricity

If you are looking for a tankless water heater please call us today at (800) 634-2724  or complete our online request form.