For many decades, there has been pretty much one option when it comes to providing your home with hot water: tank water heaters. These heaters have a large tank, which is full of water and heated by burners or electricity. The water is kept hot 24/7, allowing you to access water whenever you need it. There are a few problems with this technology, though.
Too much demand can cause the tank to empty of hot water, forcing you to wait until it can heat more. Years of stress and pressure can also cause the tanks to leak and even burst, inflicting water damage on the surrounding area. These problems gave rise to the creation of an alternative: the tankless water heater. Let’s examine how tankless water heaters work.
What is a Tankless Water Heater?
The idea behind the tankless water heater is that it only heats water when you need it. For this reason, holding tanks are eschewed completely. When you turn on the hot water tap in your sink or shower, the tankless water heater activates a powerful heat exchanger. This heat exchanges is quite similar to the kind that is used in boiler-based home heating systems. As water flows through this heat exchanger, the water heater brings it up to the correct temperature before sending it to the tap.
Advantages
The most obvious advantage of this kind of technology is that it is far more energy efficient. Without having to constantly keep a massive tank full of water heated at all times, all that saved energy translates into savings on your heating bill. You also will not have to worry about “running out” of hot water, as the tankless water heater will keep heating water at the same pace for as long as you need it.
Considerations
Since this is a newer technology, it requires a bit more of an initial financial investment before you start really saving money. Depending on the size of your house, you may also want to install more than one so that all the occupants have as much access to hot water as they need.
If you are thinking about installing a tankless water heater, call Ideal Services Heating and Cooling. We provide water heater installation throughout the Fuquay Varina area.
