Tankless water heaters, long used in Europe, are now gaining popularity in the U.S. How are tankless water heaters different from traditional storage heaters, and what are the potential advantages of installing this option in your Baltimore area home? Here’s what you need to know as you decide whether tankless water heaters may be the best choice for your household.
Tankless Vs. Traditional Water Heaters
Traditional storage water heaters continuously heat a reservoir of water 24 hours a day, keeping a supply of hot water ready for use at any time. Tankless water heaters work differently. Instead of constantly heating water, they produce it on demand, heating water instantly when you activate the system by turning on a hot water faucet or an appliance, such as your dishwasher or clothes washer.
Advantages of Going Tankless
Increased energy efficiency is among the chief advantages of tankless heaters. Because they don’t cycle on and off like traditional water heaters, they use less energy. Additionally, since there’s no stored hot water, they don’t have the same heat loss issues as tank-style heaters.
Depending upon your household hot water usage, going tankless can use anywhere from 14 to 50 percent less energy than a traditional water heater, with the greatest reduction in energy usage achieved by installing a system of on-demand units to serve separate areas of the home.
Other advantages include the much smaller size of tankless units compared to traditional heaters, and the ability to install them anywhere there’s a hot water pipe – even outdoors. Additionally, with an on-demand system, you can avoid that last person in the shower issue – waiting 30 to 60 minutes for more hot water after everyone else has drained the tank.
If you would like to know more about tankless water heaters, take a look at the quality hot water system solutions Griffith Energy Services, Inc. has to offer to residential and commercial customers in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia or give us a call at 888-474-3391.
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