Most homeowners are aware that heating costs money – this applies to heating your home, your oven, or your water. Having hot water available at all times is actually the second highest cost with respect to your energy bill. Energy costs have been decreasing lately because of a drop in oil prices, but many people are also aware of the impact of using additional energy on the environment and are very conscious of making responsible choices. As a result, many are now considering tankless water heaters for their Phoenix AZ homes.
What is the difference between stored water and a tankless water heater?
Conventional water heaters operate on a tank that can store between 20 and 80 gallons of water. This system requires that the water is kept hot 24 hours a day. Thus, at any time, you can open a faucet and hot water will be available. The problem is that sometimes the water heater size is too large, For example, perhaps you had many children at home but now all have left and it’s just two of you in the house. Thus, you are keeping huge amounts of water warm at all times, when only a small portion of this stored water is needed. It’s also for this reason that many people switch off their water heaters when they are out for an entire day, or away on vacation.
Another solution is to investigate a tankless water heater, which could be described as using hot water only when there is a demand for it. In this situation, there is no tank and water is heated when it’s needed. Fortunately, the speed of getting the water warm can be very rapid. These water heaters have been shown to decrease the demand in energy by between 20 and 30 percent, which is a huge saving. With modern engineering, most of these tankless water heaters can provide hot water at a rapid rate – usually between 2 and 4 gallons per minute. This should be sufficient for most households, depending on whether you are doing more than one thing at a time. For example, if you decide to run your dishwasher just as you want to get into the shower, you may need to prioritize your tasks. However, even this doesn’t need to be a problem as it’s possible to install a device that operates the demand for hot water in parallel sequence.
