As you might expect, water heaters are used to warm H2O for your morning shower as well as for dozens of other household applications. For years, homeowners were given only two options when it came to this essential apparatus: they could buy a traditional model with a tank powered by either gas or electricity. Over the past few years, the market has been shaken up by the introduction of new, tankless models.
What’s The Difference?
As the name implies, a traditional water heater has a large cylindrical tank that is often installed in the basement or another storage area. Whenever warm water is required, the apparatus heats the H20 and sends it through the pipes.
In recent years, tankless water heaters have been introduced as a step up the evolutionary chain. Because they don’t need to store H20 in order to warm it, these models do not need tanks.
Why Is Tankless Superior?
When you are dealing with a traditional tank unit, H2O must be stored and then warmed until it is needed. This process means that when hot water is not being used, it sits around and loses warmth. According to industry reports, a tank unit costs ten to twenty percent more than a tankless unit due to the mere fact that the liquid must continually heat and reheat.
Another shortcoming of traditional models is that they are only designed to warm about forty gallons of H2O an hour. This shortcoming means that if you are running two showers at the same time in the morning, there is a chance that your shower will run cold. By comparison, tankless gas models can heat up to five gallons every minute. That’s three hundred gallons of H2O an hour, more than seven times as much as a tank unit.
Electric Vs. Gas Versions
Just like their predecessors, the tankless water heaters are available in either electric or gas versions. As mentioned, the gas version can heat up to five gallons every minute while an electric one can only warm about three gallons a minute. Electric models are also at a disadvantage when it comes to cost since they require a substantial amount of electricity. They are also inoperable during a blackout.
Conclusion
No matter which model or version you choose, it is clear that the tankless variety is head and shoulders above the old tank unit. Not only does it warm much more H20, but it is also far more efficient at doing so. On average, homeowners can expect to save about fifty dollars a month on their utility bill when they make the switch to tankless water heaters.