If you are considering a new water heater for your home, you have a choice to make. Should you install a tankless water heater or stick with a traditional tank water heater installation?
The way to determine the best water heater for your home is to ask yourself a few questions. Don’t assume that tank or tankless is the better choice for you based on what someone else may decide. Either type may be preferable, depending on the situation.
Your decision should consider capacity, fuel availability, energy efficiency, and life cycle cost. Considering that water heaters account for as much as 18% of the utility bills in most homes, it’s important to choose wisely.
How Water Heaters Work
Storage tank heaters, gas, and electric, heat cold water as it enters the bottom of a storage tank and distributes hot water through a water line at the top of the tank. As you use hot water the heater goes to work to keep replenishing the tank with hot water.
Tank size may vary from 20 gallons (for special use situations) to 80 gallons. The right size for your home depends on the number of people, the number of bathrooms, when you take showers, as well as when you run clothes washers and dishwashers.
Also consider first-hour rate, which is how much hot water a heater can deliver in an hour’s time. The calculation includes starting with a full tank and adds in how fast the heater can bring incoming cold water up to temperature. A smaller high-efficiency water heater may deliver more hot water per hour than a larger, less efficient heater. ENERGY STAR labels on water heaters display first hour rates.
Homes with four people and 2.5 baths will typically need a 40-50-gallon tank. If you’d like to do some math of your own, the U. S. Department of Energy offers objective information and steps to follow for water heater sizing estimates to get the best water heater for your home.
Tankless water heaters heat and send water on demand whenever a hot water tap is opened or dishwasher or washing machine is operating. Cold water enters the unit and is heated as it passes through. Hot water flows as long as the system demands it.
Tankless heaters come in different sizes, too, but capacity is measured in a flow rate of gallons-per-minute instead of storage capacity. If you shower while the dishwasher and washing machine are running, the flow rate may be as great as 7.5 gallons per minute.
Instant Heating Does Not Mean Instant Delivery
Don’t confuse instant heating of tankless water heaters with instant delivery of hot water to the tap. If you replace a tank-type water heater with tankless and put it in the same location, even the best water heater available will not deliver hot water any faster because the water must travel the same distance.
Wait time depends on plumbing system design, including the distance the water travels from the heater to tap. Recirculating hot water systems make hot water available instantly, regardless of travel distance. If your home does not have a recirculating system, there are commercially available devices that can “borrow” cold water lines to recirculate hot water.
Gas vs. Electric
If your home or business does not have natural gas available, your logical choice is electric (solar systems are available at exponentially higher initial prices). If gas is available, consider that gas water heaters cost up to 30% less to operate, thanks to abundant gas supplies, and have lower life cycle costs. In addition, the gas heats faster than electric, and you will have hot water during power outages.
Two Stages of Water Heater Cost
Think of water heater cost in two stages: purchase price and operating costs. A higher purchase price often is offset by lower operating costs that can add up to a lower cost of ownership over the useful life of the product. The classic illustration is the comparison between tank-type and tankless water heaters.
Tankless water heaters typically cost more to purchase but have significantly lower operating costs than storage tank heaters. Here’s why: even the highest efficiency storage tank heaters lose heat constantly. During daylight hours, when most people are not at home, a tank heater may turn on to reheat water half a dozen times or more. Ditto for overnight while you sleep. That does not happen with a tankless water heater.
Cost calculations must include the longer lifespan of tankless heaters – 20+ years, compared to 8-12 years for tank-type heaters.
Water Heater Maintenance
All water heaters require periodic maintenance to perform efficiently and safely, and to extend their useful lives. Storage tanks must be drained of sediment buildup, which can act to insulate the water from the heat source. Also, the temperature-pressure-release (TPR) valve must be able to open to relieve pressure buildup, which in worst cases could cause the tank to explode.
Tankless heaters need to be flushed periodically with a safe chemical to remove calcium and magnesium scale buildup. Frequency of flushing depends on whether you have hard or soft water. One leading manufacturer recommends flushing in soft water areas every 4-5 years, but as often as annually if you live in a hard water area. This U. S. Geological Survey map shows regional breakdowns of water hardness.
Tank and Tankless Water Heater Comparison Summary
| Storage Tank Water Heaters | On-Demand Tankless Water Heaters |
| Indoor installation only, require floor space | Indoor or outdoor wall-mounted installation |
| Simpler installation results in lower installation costs | Higher installation costs, especially if converting to tankless from storage type |
| Continuous hot water supply depends on tank size and replenish rate | Continuous hot water as long as the tap is open |
| As water cools in the tank, heater cycles on to reheat it; Energy loss is about 30% | No “standby loss” because water is heated as needed, not stored; total energy loss about 5% |
| Higher operating costs | Operating costs about 25% lower |
| Lower purchase and installation price, a shorter lifetime of 8-12 years | Higher purchase and installation price, lifetime expectancy 20 years or more |
| Emergency water supply stored in the tank | No emergency water supply |
| If tank leaks or fails, sudden discharge of water can cause home flooding | No danger of flooding because no tank involved |
Conclusion
There is no one size fits all solution when deciding on the best water heater for your home or business. If you carefully consider capacity, fuel availability, energy efficiency and then weigh your requirements for short-term versus the long-term cost of ownership, you will arrive at the best solution for you.