Which Water Heater To Choose For Your Home
Traditional water heaters have a 10 to 15 year lifespan. If you own a house, you’ll almost certainly need to replace at least one water heater at some point. We all depend on quick and easy access to hot water in our homes, so it’s beneficial to employ a contractor who can respond quickly when your water heater needs to be replaced. Earth Temp will assist you in the Chicagoland surrounding suburbs, sometimes with same-day installation!
Choosing a new water heater
It’s important to understand your replacement choices, whether you need a replacement right away or have time to think about it. What you’ll need to remember is this:
- what kind of water heater do you have now?
- electric or gas
- capacity of the tank
These specifics are usually found on the water heater’s label. If you’re unsure, Earth Temp HVAC will assist you. If you call us, we’ll either walk you through describing your current setup or send a technician out to consult with you. You should look at choices once you know what you have now. The most important choices you’ll have to make are probably:
CAPACITY:
Does your current tank have enough capacity to provide enough hot water for your family? If that’s the case, keeping the same power is possibly perfect. Consider expanding the tank size if you constantly run out of hot water. If your family has shrunk, you may want to consider reducing capacity to save energy; a smaller tank would need less energy to keep the water warm.
Traditional vs. tankless water heaters
Tankless water heaters are a relatively new technology accessible to homeowners; for more details, see the section below!
Professional vs. DIY installation
While many homeowners are confident in their ability to install a new water heater, there are obvious advantages to hiring a professional. Our installation team at Earth Temp HVAC includes a licensed technician/installer. Our skilled installation will include a thorough draining of your current tank to protect your home and property, a secure connection to your power source, and any necessary venting. We’ll even remove and dispose of your old tank for you, saving you time and effort!
Storage (traditional) water heaters vs. tankless water heaters
A traditional water heater, also known as a storage water heater, preheats and stores water in a large tank, which is then refilled and heated. Tankless water heaters, also known as demand water heaters, do not store water and instead heat it as required in the home. For certain homeowners, tankless water heaters are the best choice.
The advantages are also obvious. Tankless heaters are much smaller than traditional heaters, freeing up a lot of room for other purposes. A tankless heater has a much longer lifetime, often exceeding 20 years (compared to 10 to 15 years for a traditional heater). It’s much more difficult to run out of hot water with on-demand capability.
Despite the benefits, tankless water heaters in Illinois are mostly not a worthwhile investment for homeowners due to the high upfront installation costs. A tankless heater’s initial cost, as well as its installation, is often double that of a conventional heater. When we help homeowners do the math over the life of the appliance, we typically find that a conventional water heater is the more cost-effective option. However, in the following cases, a tankless device is the better option:
- Booster for appliances
- Bathroom remodels or home additions where a tankless water heater may be installed on-site to provide water to one bathroom
- There is no cost to retrofit a conventional water heater in new building construction
- Families with fewer members that use less hot water on a regular basis. According to energy.gov, “…demand water heaters (tankless water heaters) can be 24 percent–34 percent more energy efficient than traditional storage tank water heaters” and save you up to $100 a month when daily hot water needs do not exceed 41 gallons. (For comparison, a typical American family of four can use 100 gallons of hot water per day!)
Earth Temp HVAC will provide an estimate for both tank (traditional) and tankless (demand) water heaters for your consideration if you’re interested in a tankless water heater.
What do you do if your water heater starts to leak?
Switch off the water supply to the tank first. If you can’t locate the tank’s shutoff, you can turn off the water to your home. The next step for homeowners is to schedule an appointment with Earth Temp. We will usually get all of the details we need about a new tank during our first phone call with you, and we can even arrange an installation appointment for the same day!
