If your water heater is nearing the end of its lifespan, you’re likely considering a replacement. There are two different styles of water heaters you can purchase for your home: traditional tanked and tankless water heaters. Here, we’ll discuss whether it’s possible to switch from a traditional tank-style water heater to a newer tankless water heater.
Determining Sizing
While it’s possible to switch from using a tank water heater to a tankless water heater, it’s important to understand the difference in their sizing. Tanked water heaters have a capacity rating, which signifies how much hot water they hold in their storage tank. Tankless water heaters have a gallon-per-minute capacity rating that specifies how much hot water they can produce in each minute.
When selecting the appropriate size tankless water heater, it’s essential to consider your water usage and the various appliances you have that utilize water. One of our professionals can thoroughly assess your home and recommend the appropriate size tankless water heater to meet your needs.
Deciding on Space
One notable difference between traditional tank-style water heaters and newer tankless water heaters is that newer ones are more compact. Tankless water heaters are typically mounted on the wall, giving you more living space. It’s important to designate a location for your new tankless water heater where it will have access to your water hookups and electricity.
Choosing Your Fuel Type
Tankless water heaters can run on propane, natural gas, and even electricity. If you already have a natural gas hookup at your home, it’s typically most cost-effective to get a natural gas tankless water heater. However, if you don’t have natural gas and don’t want to deal with onsite fuel storage, you may want to consider getting an electric tankless water heater.
Top Benefits of a Tankless Water Heater
There’s no doubt that tankless water heaters can be costlier than traditional tank-style water heaters. However, they do come with a lot of different benefits that you may be interested in. Here, we’ll discuss some of the biggest benefits that these newer water heaters can provide you with.
Energy Savings
One of the most notable advantages of a tankless water heater is that it can provide you with more energy savings than a tank water heater can. This is because tankless water heaters only turn on whenever you need hot water. Since they’re not running constantly to heat up water in a storage tank, they don’t use as much energy as tanked water heaters do.
Longer Lifespan
Another notable benefit of tankless water heaters is that they have a longer lifespan. Traditional tank water heaters last about eight to 12 years. Tankless water heaters last 15 to 20 years. Their longer lifespan is attributed to their lower runtime and less contact with hard water minerals.
Endless Hot Water
One of the biggest drawbacks of a traditional tank water heater is that it only produces a set amount of hot water before the water turns lukewarm. A tankless water heater can produce a virtually endless amount of hot water. This means you can enjoy taking a long shower and not have to worry about the water getting cold on you.
Space-Saving Design
Another advantage of tankless water heaters is that they can save you space. This is especially important if you have a smaller home where a traditional tank water heater will take up precious living space. Tankless options can easily be mounted on the wall or even in a closet where they’re out of your main living space.
No Explosion Risk
One risk you’ll encounter with a traditional tank water heater is the risk of an explosion. These tank heaters need an expansion valve that releases pressure from the inside of the tank when the pressure level gets too high. Normally, this works fine.
However, if the expansion valve corrodes or fails, this can prevent excess pressure from releasing from the tank and lead to an explosion. Tankless water heaters don’t have this risk because there is no tank.
Expert Water Heater Replacement Service
Frontline Plumbing provides expert water heater replacement service for the Las Vegas, NV area. We can also help with all your water heater repair, installation, and maintenance needs. With over 30 years of industry experience and BBB accreditation, we’re your go-to expert for household plumbing. Interested in knowing the differences between a tank and tankless water heater? We can help! Contact us today to schedule your next service appointment.
