Insight To Your Water Heater Troubles
It is important in this day and age to try to do your best to save money and energy in your home. One of these ways is to replace a common item found in all homes, that can be a huge drain on your pocket book. This is called the hot water heater.
Even the most efficient energy star-certified appliances use electricity to heat the water held in your water heater’s tank. Given the size of the tanks used in most of these heaters, it naturally takes a while to heat this water; and no small amount of electricity. However, there are some alternative types of heater now available, so you have choices other than the traditional large tank heater.
Before your tank needs replacing, you should start thinking about a new one. There are many factors to consider first. One big one is the size of the tank itself. Perhaps when you first moved into the house you had kids, and so you needed a big fifty gallon or more heater at that time.
You might want to think about installing a new heater which has a smaller tank than your old one if you find that you use less hot water than you used to. Smaller, more highly efficient heaters with 40 gallon tanks and even lower capacities are available. This small step alone can produce a significant savings on your energy bill. You could even choose one of the new high efficiency water heaters which has its heating coils on the inside of its tank – these can save you even more on energy costs.
It may be the case that you still need a larger tank to meet your home’s energy needs. However, you can still save on your energy costs by using natural gas instead of electricity for your water heater. You will have to ask with your local utility companies if this is possible; you should also find out how much it will cost to use natural gas to heat your water as opposed to electricity. If it will end up costing you less, it’s a good move to make the switch, since this will also increase the resale value of your home.
You could also install a tankless water heater. Also known as an on demand heater, a tankless water heater uses a different type of design, with the heating coils wrapped around pipes to heat water as it runs through the unit. These heaters can heat between two and five gallons of water per minute if they are electrically powered and slightly more when powered with natural gas or propane.
Tankless heaters have the advantage of being much smaller than a traditional heater, being small enough to install just about anywhere they are needed. The drawback is that since they provide a lower volume of hot water than do tank-style heaters that it can be difficult to use hot water for a shower and a dishwasher at the same time, for instance. An easy workaround for this problem is to simply install more tankless heaters in order to meet your home’s hot water needs.
If you’re having a new home built, then you can see significant savings on your energy costs by using multiple heating systems for your hot water. For example, you could install a passive solar water heating system to provide hot water during the day to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of using your tankless system. You can also greatly reduce your hot water usage by replacing your current faucets with low flow style faucets; this can greatly reduce the demand on your hot water heater and keep your costs lower.
Find more information on home Water Heater options and the Water Heaters brands available – with local service in the MD, VA, DC area, visit: http://www.vitoservices.com
No related posts.