3 Tips for How to Pick a Tankless Water Heater for Your Home

My friend’s little boy is the pickiest eater I’ve ever seen. Recently, I went out for dinner with his family to a buffett. The poor kid was just riddled with indecision about what he wanted to put on his plate. He kept asking what I was having, and then he also wanted to see what his mom and dad were choosing before he made his own picks. He also had a ton of questions about why people ate salad first and dessert last, etc. Finally, he made his pick: macaroni and cheese. I guess everything else seemed too unfamiliar and risky.

Where, I wondered to myself, did this kid get all this indecision from? Well, I recently found out. See, his dad—who I’ve been friends with for years—had to make a big plumbing decision for his home. He called me up, his old friend the plumbing expert, and asked at least an hour’s worth of questions about how to pick a tankless water heater for his home. When it was all said and done, I thought to myself, you know, maybe I’m being a little too hard on my friend for his indecisiveness. Maybe most folks are wondering these sort of things, too.

A tankless water heater is a great decision if it’s time to replace your old standard model because it offers benefits for your water bill, the environment, and also the speed and length in which you get hot water to your shower. Let’s explore my top three tips for how to pick a tankless water heater for your home, as well as dig in a little deeper about their benefits. That way I can help cut out on any indecision you might be feeling, just like I was able to do for my old friend.

How to Pick a Tankless Water Heater for Your Home Tip #1: Know the Benefits

I have long believed that knowing the reason you want to achieve something in your life is the key to keeping yourself motivated as you pursue your goals. This is why my very first tip is to know the benefits that you stand to gain by picking a tankless water heater for your home.

Here are some of the most appealing benefits for homeowners:

• Comfort: Here in the Sacramento region we have what’s known as a Mediterranean climate, which means hot and dry summers, but damp and chilly winters. I don’t know about you, but for me, this means that there’s nothing as important as a nice hot shower during the winter. Well, one of the main benefits of a tankless water heater is that it provides instant and continuous steaming hot water. So, people with families like my friend don’t have to worry about running out of hot water on a cold day.
• Savings: Tankless water heaters tend to be between 24 and 34% more efficient than their conventional counterparts, according to energy.gov. And a more efficient appliance means a lower utility bill because your water heater will use less fuel to get your showers hot.
• Longer lifespan: Conventional water heaters have a lifespan of between 10 and 15 years. Tankless water heaters, however, regularly last up to 20, making them a great investment over time.

How to Pick a Tankless Water Heater Tip #2: Know the Common Misconceptions

One way to derail your motivation to invest in a tankless water heater is to become too concerned with the tankless water heater common misconceptions. I don’t know how these things start, but I suggest you familiarize yourself with them so they don’t bother you later.

Here’s a brief list of the most common concerns homeowners have about how to pick a tankless water heater:

• Tankless water heaters will raise your power bill: This is simply not true. Like I said earlier, these are between 24 and 34% more energy efficient. The reason is that traditional water heaters use power all day to keep water warm, while tankless heaters warm it on demand.
• Tankless water heaters don’t supply enough hot water for a family: Another name for tankless water heaters is on-demand water heaters because this piece of equipment has no storage tank, instead heating water instantly as it passes over a heating element en route to your sink or shower. This means you literally cannot run out of hot water.
• Tankless water heaters can easily be installed by DIY-minded homeowners: Installing a tankless water heater is actually a complex project, one that deals with gas lines, always dangerous for even an experienced handyman to deal with. For this reason, I highly recommend calling an experienced plumbing installation expert to take care of your project.

Tip #3 for How to Pick a Tankless Water Heater: Find the Right Fit

After you get properly motivated and you become aware of the misconceptions, it’s time to find a tankless water heater for your home. The most important thing when picking out the model to install in your home is finding the right fit.

Size is really the most important thing here because you don’t want a model that is too small to handle the quantity of water consumed by you and your family. This can lead to costly equipment failure, not to mention you having to take cold showers while you get repairs done. The good news here is that a plumbing expert can help you identify beyond a doubt what the right fit for your home is. That’s why it’s so important to get a dependable installation expert you can count on involved in your project.

The other thing to consider is whether your home has hard water. “Can a tankless water heater work with hard water?” is a question I hear all the time. The answer is yes, although there are some extra considerations that you’ll need to account for. You’ll need to look into installing a prefilter, getting a model with high pressure, and scheduling regular chemical cleanings. Again, an experienced plumbing expert can help with each of these potential dilemmas.

If you’re as indecisive as my friend and his boy, I sincerely hope what we’ve talked about here today has put you at ease. Tankless water heaters are great investments to make for your home. They increase comfort and lower water bills, plus they last longer than their traditional storage tank counterparts. I know that it’s important to deliberate on major purchases for your home, but I really think going with a tankless water heater is a total no-brainer. Just make sure you hire an experienced plumbing company like Bell Brothers to help you through the process.

Stop wondering about how to pick a tankless water heater for your home. Contact the experienced plumbing professionals at Bell Brothers today for all the answers you need to make a sound financial decision.

Wondering how to finance that new plumbing or water heater? HERO is a unique financing option that helps California homeowners afford energy efficient upgrades to their home. Contact Bell Brothers, a HERO-approved contractor, to learn more. Our local HVAC, plumbing, and window specialists will walk you through the entire process, from applications to installation.

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