Today we have many concerns from rising costs of natural gas, electricity, and water to pollution and the effects of greenhouse gases on the environment. Now there is a solution in heating your water with a tankless water heater instead of a regular water heater. Tankless water heaters come in many forms and sizes. The tankless water heaters that I install use natural gas as the fuel to heat the water. Most of the heaters that I have direct experience with range in heating sizes of 150,000 to 190,000 Btu’s. To give you an idea of what that means, a high efficient boiler that I recently installed used to heat an infloor heating system for a 3800 square foot home was only 145,000 Btu’s. Your regular water heater has a heating range of 36,000 to 54,000 Btu’s depending on the size of the water heater.

Now I am sure your thinking how can I save money with a tankless water heater when the amount of energy used is 3 to 4 times that of my current water heater. The difference first of all is that your existing water heater has a burner that is either fully on or fully off (excluding the pilot). While your tankless water heater has a burner that can modulate depending on demand. So, if your tankless water heater only needs to be burning 50,000 Btu’s then that is all that will be used. Remember your water heater will also be in firing mode for significantly longer than what your tankless water heater will. I am sure you have gotten out of the shower and after a bit of time has passed you noticed that your water heater is still on.

The next item of importance is standby losses. Your existing water heater only runs for about 2 hours per day and when it is not running, the heated water inside the tank cools by losing some of its heat into the room as well as through convection into your pipes and through convection up through your flue. Now in comparison your new tankless water heater runs only when needed. So if you do dishes, shower, do laundry the heater is firing. The rest of the time it is not. A tankless water heater has no standby losses. Except for the hot water in the pipes that cools before being used.

Other benefits of a tankless water heater over a regular water heater is extra space in your home. Especially during new construction. With a tankless water heater you will pipe the exhaust out through the wall not up through a chimney. So if you do not need a chimney in your home you will save 18 cubic feet of space on each level of your home and have better space usage in your mechanical room.

Most of the manufacturers say that about 30% savings over a tank water heater should be expected.

The only downside is the initial cost of the tankless water heater. If this is done during new construction the tankless water heater can be installed for about the same price as a regular water heater and the only cost difference would be the unit itself. That cost difference would be approximately $800 to $1200. Not a bad price since you are going from a budget car to a Cadillac. Except that this Cadillac will pay for itself over time. Not to mention the benefits on our environment. Less greenhouse gases, fewer toxic emissions, and less of a chance of carbon monoxide poisoning (you still need to protect yourself with a carbon monoxide detector).

Thanks for reading my article on tankless water heaters.