When you need a new air conditioner, shopping in the middle of summer can feel a little hectic. After all, it’s the busiest time of the year for HVAC contractors, and you don’t want to feel rushed into a decision, but you need cooling now.
It’s different for a water heater, though. You can literally buy it any time of the year and not worry about a huge disruption in service. So, if you’ve been considering replacing your aging storage tank model water heater, now is the perfect time to consider going tankless!
Tankless water heaters have become increasingly popular among homeowners, and for good reason. Just like with any water heater system though, there are pros and cons to going tankless. We’ll get into them below, and we’re happy to help you make an educated decision about whether or not one is right for your household.
Con: “It Costs Too Much to Install”
This is a common reason people choose not to have a tankless system installed, due to the high upfront cost. It’s significantly more than the conventional storage tank system, and can often be a bit pricier than homeowners might expect.
Pro: It Saves Energy
And as a result, it saves money! Tankless water heaters are also known as “on-demand” water heaters since they only heat water when there’s a demand for it from the taps. Unlike a storage tank model, which loses heat from the tank continually and must keep using energy to heat it up again, a tankless system only works when you need it. As a result, you wind up paying much less for your hot water usage when you have a tankless system. You essentially can pay back that high installation cost very shortly.
Con: “It Can Be Overwhelmed By Demand”
This is true. Tankless water heaters will keep heating up water, but too many taps on at the same time can cause it to be overwhelmed and lose efficiency. So if you have a larger household, you may choose to forgo the tankless model.
Pro: You Won’t “Run Out” of Hot Water
While a tankless system can be overwhelmed if too many appliances and fixtures are demanding hot water at one time, they cannot “run out” of hot water like a storage tank model can. There’s no tank storing water to be depleted.
Con: “They’re Susceptible to Hard Water Damage”
Hard water is water with a high presence of the minerals calcium, magnesium, and iron in it. These minerals are harmless to ingest but can build up in and corrode your plumbing pipes. A tankless system can suffer from sediment buildup from hard water, and its lines can be impacted much faster than a storage tank system would be. That said, hard water is a problem for any plumbing appliance, and the best solution here is the installation of a whole-home water softener.
Pro: They Last a Long Time
Since tankless systems undergo far less strain over time than tank systems, they last longer. They require very little by way of maintenance and repairs—though they can suffer from scaling due to hard water, so you will want to make sure you have yours maintained to avoid associated problems.
To learn more about your options for water heaters in Fairfax, VA, contact AllTech Services, Inc.