Tankless Hot Water Heaters Are Better
Most of us are familiar with the large cylindrical hot water heaters
in homes today. They are big, inefficient, and prone to leaking every
ten years or less. Now there is a better way to heat water, tankless
heaters. While slightly more expensive, the savings in energy costs
and the space reclaimed more than make up for it. Furthermore, the
hot water supply is endless from a tankless heater, whereas with
legacy water heaters, when the tank is drained, the water gets cool
rapidly.
Energy
Legacy water heaters have to use electricity or gas all of the time to
keep the water in the tank hot, even when nobody is home or awake.
Tankless heaters only use energy when the water is being used, so
there is no waste.
Space
Legacy water heaters are often 3 feet by 3 feet by 5 feet: 45 cubic
feet. Often they take up 10 square feet or more of valuable floor
space in a garage or closet. Tankless heaters can mount on a wall and
are as small as 1 foot by 2 feet by 2 feet. 4 cubic feet and no floor
space lost. Sometimes they can even be mounted outside and have no
impact on floor space. With floor space costing hundreds of dollars
per square foot, tankless heaters can get you thousands of dollars
worth of additional floor space.
Water Supply
Most of us have had hot water run out using a legacy water heater. If
someone in the house takes a long shower, the next person to use hot
water is in for a rude surprise when the hot water comes out cold.
With a tankless heater, this never happens. The heater heats water as
quickly as it is used, so a shower could be run all day and not run
out of hot water.
Summary
Tankless water heaters are preferable to legacy water heaters in
numerous areas. It seems likely that they will replace legacy water
heaters rapidly.
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