Hot water is an essential component of any modern-day household. From taking a warm shower to cleaning your dishes or washing your clothes, you need a reliable water heater. Below, we’ll do an item-by-item comparison of traditional tank-style water heaters and newer tankless water heaters to help you make a better-informed decision about which one is right for your home.
Traditional Tank Water Heaters
Tank water heaters are the most common and can run on electricity, natural gas, or propane. This water heater uses a large cylindrical storage tank to hold water. It has internal heating elements that warm the water to your desired thermostat setting. This type of unit will continually heat the water to ensure that it’s always at your desired temperature for when you need to use your water. When you turn on your hot water faucet, hot water will be delivered from your tank to the faucet and fresh water will be introduced into the storage tank to be heated.
Tankless Water Heaters
As their name suggests, tankless water heaters don’t have a cylindrical storage tank. This device only heats water as it flows through the unit on its way to your faucet. Essentially, when you turn on your hot water faucet, water will move through your hot water line and be warmed by your water heater as it moves through. Tankless water heaters can run on electricity, propane, or natural gas.
Size
One of the most noticeable differences between the styles of water heaters is their size. Tank water heaters are typically 4 feet or taller and at least a foot and a half to 2 feet wide. They require a good amount of space to function. On the other hand, tankless water heaters are small and compact. In fact, their space-saving design allows them to be mounted on the wall so that they don’t take up precious living space. They’re a fantastic option for homes that don’t have a lot of extra space to house a traditional water heater.
Operating Efficiency
A crucial difference between tank and tankless water heaters is their operating efficiency. Tanked water heaters are constantly running to keep the water in their tank at a consistent temperature, which uses a lot of energy. Because the tankless water heater only runs when there’s a demand for hot water, it uses much less energy. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even suggests that tankless water heaters can use more than 30% less energy than their tank counterparts. That can translate to a great deal of energy savings for you as a homeowner.
Price
One area that all homeowners are concerned with, when purchasing a new appliance for their home, is its overall price. In general, tank water heaters are less expensive. Tankless water heaters will cost around one and a half to two times that of a traditional tank unit. If you’re looking for a cheap unit and don’t care about the ongoing running costs, a tanked water heater is the ideal option.
Lifespan
The lifespan of any water heater is highly dependent on the amount of maintenance it receives and the promptness of repair service when necessary. However, there’s a noticeable difference between the lifespan of a tank and a tankless water heater. Tank water heaters typically last between 8 and 12 years. Tankless water heaters can last between 15 and 20 years, which is typically twice that of its competitors.
Tax Credits
The federal government is rewarding homeowners who purchase energy-efficient appliances for their homes. There are specific requirements your new appliance must meet to be eligible for a tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Eligible systems include natural gas tank water heaters with ENERGY STAR certification and a Uniform Energy Factor (UEF) rating of > 0.81 for tanks less than 55 gallons and > 0.86 UEF for tanks greater than or equal to 55 gallons.
Natural gas tankless water heaters that have a UEF rating of > 0.95 and are ENERGY STAR certified are eligible. Homeowners can claim up to 30% of the total cost of the new system plus installation up to a maximum amount of $600 per year.
Capacity
All tank water heaters will have a designated capacity given in the form of gallons that describe how many gallons of hot water they can produce. If you were to turn on your hot water faucet and run it non-stop, you would only get as much hot water as the capacity of your device before the water turns cold. If you’re doing activities like taking back-to-back showers or running your clothes washer, dishwasher, and taking a shower all at once, you could potentially run out of hot water. When you do, you’ll have to wait about an hour or so for your tank to reheat the fresh water to use.
Tankless water heaters have a capacity rating of gallons per minute or GPM for short. This describes how many gallons of hot water the device can produce in a given minute. It’s vitally important that you appropriately size your tankless water heater so that it can supply all your water-using devices and fixtures with hot water at the same time. If you get a unit that has a too-small GPM rating for your home, you’ll end up with lukewarm water when you’re trying to run multiple items at once.
However, when appropriately sized for your home, tankless water heaters can provide an endless amount of hot water. Because they only heat the water as it travels through the hot water line, they can constantly heat up water as long as your faucet runs. You could virtually have endless hot water as long as you have adequate fuel for your tankless water heater to run. This is a big advantage over the traditional tank water heater because it prevents the dreaded cold water sandwich.
Maintenance
Both styles of water heaters will need routine maintenance to stay in good working condition. At the bare minimum, both should be flushed out each year to remove any sediment buildup in their internal components. If you have hard water, you may need to flush your water heater more frequently to preserve its overall integrity due to the corrosive effects of minerals like magnesium and calcium.
Tankless water heaters require a little bit more maintenance to stay in good working condition. You’ll need to clean the water filter every six months. If you have a natural gas water heater, you also need to clean its air filter every six months. Both tank and tankless water heaters need professional service yearly to ensure efficient system operation.
Reliable Water Heater Installation Service
Cal’s Plumbing offers reliable water heater installation service for the Tucson, AZ area. We can also help with all your tankless and tanked water heater maintenance, replacement, and repair needs. Call us today to schedule your next service appointment with one of our knowledgeable plumbing professionals.
