Water Heaters – Tankless or Traditional?

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Water Heaters – Tankless or Traditional?

If you are looking for a new water heater, there is a great selection of options and varieties available to you. Water heaters are categorized into two main groups: traditional water heaters and tankless water heaters. Now if you don’t know much about water heaters, the process of choosing a unit can be confusing and overwhelming. But you shouldn’t just purchase the first water heater you see.

Here is a quick water heater buying guide that can help you determine which one suits your needs better.

What Is the Difference?

Traditional water heaters heat and keep water in a big tank. Every time you take a shower, run a load of laundry, wash dishes, or any other task that uses water, you consume pre-heated water that comes from the tank. Your water source then refills the tank as you use the hot water, and the cycle just continues.

Tankless water heaters, which are also called on-demand or instantaneous water heaters simply heat water at the time of use, instead of storing heated water in a tank. What happens is that every time you turn on a hot water tap, cool water runs through the tankless water heater and then its heat source, whether it’s gas or electric instantly heats the water on demand.

So which one is actually better?

Just like with any other appliance or equipment, there are a lot of things to be considered before purchasing, including convenience, cost, and efficiency. Your decision should be based on your specific needs. Let’s take a look at those factors that you need to think about:

Convenience

In general, a tankless water heater is more convenient as it eliminates the risk of having a cold shower (if you’re the last to take one). Aside from that, tankless water heaters also save you space because there is no need to allot space for a tank. They are so compact that you can just mount them on a wall inside or outside your house to have on-demand hot water supply.

Cost

Tankless water heaters may be more expensive up front, but they can recoup that initial installation cost over the years of their use as you benefit from lower energy bills and a much longer lifespan. Traditional water heaters are still quite common perhaps because they are significantly less expensive when you buy them. However, many do not realize that they are more costly to operate.

Efficiency

Traditional water heaters make use of a lot of energy as a constant supply of heat is necessary to keep the stored water hot, whether or not you are using hot water. Tankless water heaters, on the other hand, only use energy when you use hot water, so they are definitely the more energy-efficient choice.

Tankless water heaters have the edge over traditional units. Should you, then, buy any tankless water heater? Not at all! Even with tankless water heaters there are high-quality and low-quality ones, so you should only get yours from a trusted company like TwinTech Heating and Cooling. Give us a call today so we can help you!