Is a Tankless Water Heater a Good Idea?

With the cost of energy on the rise, many of us are looking for ways to save on our monthly electric or gas bills. In your search for ways to stretch a dollar, you may have heard of a tankless water heater.

A tankless water heater, whether gas or electric, is designed to heat water only on demand. Basically, water leaves your water line and enters the heater and flows around a heating unit en-route to the point of utilization without every being stored and given the opportunity to cool off again. The key feature is that the heater does not turn on until it senses that a hot water tap is being opened. In short, the water is heated as part of the delivery process and only when it will be used immediately. This is in contrast to a typical tank water heater that holds gallons of water (40 gallons is typical) in a constantly heated state. Even if you are not home for the weekend, the tank heater is diligently heating the water to your desired temperature and then heating it again as it cools off. The tankless water heater only heats water once and that is where the savings come into play.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

The difficulty is that the savings can be dramatically higher or lower depending on your specific situation. However, as a rule of thumb, a household should realize a 30% savings on energy related to hot water usage. This might work out as follows:

Tank heater cost per month -
Tankless cost at 30% reduction per month -
Savings per month -
Savings per year - 0

0 per year is nothing to sneeze at but a tankless system might not make sense depending on a few other variables. If you live in a very cold climate, it takes more energy to heat the water. The baseline water temperature in Phoenix is much warmer than in Fargo, N.D. If you live in Fargo, your savings would be less if all other things are equal.

Additionally, it costs about 0 for an installed tank water heater but two to three times that amount for a tankless system. This translates to roughly 0 - ,400 additional dollars out of your pocket. At a 0 yearly cost reduction, it will take 3.5 to 8 years to recover the additional expense and begin to save money. If you plan on moving in the next few years, a tankless system makes absolutely no sense. Additionally, if you have a gas system, you will need to modify the gas lines feeding the heater and this can be very costly. Of course, this cost is not a concern if you are looking at installing in a new home.

Taking this as a whole, we can conclude that vacation homes or families with low hot water usage generally would not benefit economically from a tankless system. However, if you are a large family with the attendant high frequency showering and laundering, it may be a good fit for you.

However, there are other non-economic reasons for installing a tankless system. Tankless systems last twice as long as tank water heaters and they don't fail catastrophically. It is not uncommon for a tank system to fail and spill all forty or so gallons of water into the home. This volume of water can do tremendous damage in short order - destroyed drywall, ruined carpet, damaged electrical systems, etc. The cost to repair this damage can run upwards of thousands of dollars. The tankless system avoids this and provides you with peace-of-mind knowing that you don't have a potential hydro-time-bomb in your utility closet.

Another major reason for people electing a tankless system is avoidance of the "shower frigid dance." If you have ever been halfway through a shower and had the hot water give out, you know what I mean. With a tankless system, you have unlimited hot water since the water is being heated on the fly and not from a stored container. No more waiting for the tank to heat more after your teenager took a fifty minute shower while the dishwasher was running.

Also, a tankless system is much smaller than a tank system. If your heater is in an inconvenient spot or a tight space, a tankless system might be able to help you out.

Finally, people that are eco-conscious will choose the tankless system as well. Even if the energy savings is low, every bit counts. And with the twenty year life span of the tankless system, there is less pollution and energy used manufacturing yet another water heater at the ten year mark when a traditional system would fail.

Whether a tankless water heater is a good fit for you depends very much on your particular circumstances. However, with a little research and thought you may be able to save money and have more comfortable shower!

Is a Tankless Water Heater a Good Idea?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS