Conventional Tank Type vs. Tankless Water Heaters “clearing the water on each”
It is hard to fault the tank type water heaters for not being on the job day in and day out for a whole bunch of years (usually a minimum of 10) and always performing. They just sit in the darkest areas of our homes and work! They are supposed to be drained at least once per year to flush out the sediment that builds up from heating the water but very few homeowners do it (Anthony Plumbing, Heating and Cooling does it as part of our ten point water heater tune up), Lets face it – a tank type water heater is an appliance that is never thought about unless it leaks or you run out of hot water.
Gas fired tank type water heaters use no electricity and hence will always provide hot water even in an electrical power outage. They have a pilot light that burns gas all the time
So lets look at its relatively new cousin – the tankless water heater. There are so many differences between the two they must be third generation-removed cousins. There only similar features are they both use gas and both have a vent.
Here is a list of items about the tankless water heaters that you need to know: - They operate with both gas and electricity. If there is a power outage then you have no hot water. - They activate on flow of water around .6 gallons per minute depending on the model. If you have a low flow faucet you will need to more than crack it on to get hot water. - They can only heat a certain amount of water flowing thru them at one time. So if you have several people showering all at the same time or a shower with body sprays and several shower heads, you will not have as hot a water as you desired. - In a retrofit application, they typically vent thru the rim joist, which needs to be a safe distance from an operable window. - They must have annual maintenance – the tiny ports that water flows thru must be “delimed” or the unit will produce a “fault” and you will be taking a cold shower. These heaters cannot run even twelve months if they are heating hard water. - The heaters come with digital controls where you can set the exact discharge temperature of the water. This same controller has a self diagnostic feature that with one manufacturer has 31 fault codes (yes these are codes that you must have the manual to figure out) - The gas pipe size will need to be increased from the standard one half inch for tank type to at least three quarter inch depending on the length of the pipe run. - The heaters are wall hung and take up no floor space. - There is no standing pilot with these heaters, they only activate when a hot water faucet is open. Hence, there is no standby loss of energy when there is no hot water demand. - The heaters can deliver virtually endless hot water – assuming the maximum flow rates are not exceeded. What this means is you can take a shower for two or three hours and not run out of hot water! - They cost about two to three times a tank type water heater installed but they will use less gas per year. The more need you have for hot water in your home the quicker the payback.
Please don’t confuse the tankless water heaters with having instant hot water. If anything some people notice more of a delay in getting hot water with these than the tank type. If you want instant hot water then we install a recirculating pump this puts hot water at your fixtures instantly and this is true for either type of heater.
I welcome your comments about these two distant cousins.
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Conventional Tank Type vs. Tankless Water Heaters
“clearing the water on each”
It is hard to fault the tank type water heaters for not being on the job day in and day out for a whole bunch of years (usually a minimum of 10) and always performing. They just sit in the darkest areas of our homes and work!
They are supposed to be drained at least once per year to flush out the sediment that builds up from heating the water but very few homeowners do it (Anthony Plumbing, Heating and Cooling does it as part of our ten point water heater tune up), Lets face it – a tank type water heater is an appliance that is never thought about unless it leaks or you run out of hot water.
Gas fired tank type water heaters use no electricity and hence will always provide hot water even in an electrical power outage. They have a pilot light that burns gas all the time
So lets look at its relatively new cousin – the tankless water heater. There are so many differences between the two they must be third generation-removed cousins. There only similar features are they both use gas and both have a vent.
Here is a list of items about the tankless water heaters that you need to know:
- They operate with both gas and electricity. If there is a power outage then you have no hot water.
- They activate on flow of water around .6 gallons per minute depending on the model. If you have a low flow faucet you will need to more than crack it on to get hot water.
- They can only heat a certain amount of water flowing thru them at one time. So if you have several people showering all at the same time or a shower with body sprays and several shower heads, you will not have as hot a water as you desired.
- In a retrofit application, they typically vent thru the rim joist, which needs to be a safe distance from an operable window.
- They must have annual maintenance – the tiny ports that water flows thru must be “delimed” or the unit will produce a “fault” and you will be taking a cold shower. These heaters cannot run even twelve months if they are heating hard water.
- The heaters come with digital controls where you can set the exact discharge temperature of the water. This same controller has a self diagnostic feature that with one manufacturer has 31 fault codes (yes these are codes that you must have the manual to figure out)
- The gas pipe size will need to be increased from the standard one half inch for tank type to at least three quarter inch depending on the length of the pipe run.
- The heaters are wall hung and take up no floor space.
- There is no standing pilot with these heaters, they only activate when a hot water faucet is open. Hence, there is no standby loss of energy when there is no hot water demand.
- The heaters can deliver virtually endless hot water – assuming the maximum flow rates are not exceeded. What this means is you can take a shower for two or three hours and not run out of hot water!
- They cost about two to three times a tank type water heater installed but they will use less gas per year. The more need you have for hot water in your home the quicker the payback.
Please don’t confuse the tankless water heaters with having instant hot water. If anything some people notice more of a delay in getting hot water with these than the tank type. If you want instant hot water then we install a recirculating pump this puts hot water at your fixtures instantly and this is true for either type of heater.
I welcome your comments about these two distant cousins.
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