Sunday, August 12, 2007

Tankless Water Heaters

Many of the builders in College Station, Texas are including a new feature, designed to save money and benefit the enviroment, the Tankless Water Heater. The concept is simple, why heat 40 or 50 gallons of water twenty four hours a day, when you can have hot water on demand?

With Tankless Heaters, also known as Instantaneous or Demand Water Heaters, there is no storage tank. You can employ electric or gas heating with tankless systems. Hot water is dispensed at typically 2-5 gallons per minute. Gas tends to be at the top of that range, where electric doesn't perform quite as well. A whole house system is the type that you would typically want to employ, as smaller Tankless systems cannot provide for multiple uses simultaneously. Another possibility is to install seperate Tankless Heaters for appliances or connect two or more together. Seperate systems could be used with poolhouses, hot tubs, and remote bathrooms.

24%-34% more energy efficient with moderate use, and 8%-14% more efficient with high usage (over 80 gallons a day), better efficiency of 27%-50% can be achieved if Tankless Systems are installed at each hot water outlet.

Another benefit of the Tankless System is that heater life is typically extended. A standard water heater can last anywhere from 7-15 years. Most Tankless Systems have a life expectancy exceeding 20 years. This ensures less scrap metal in the landfills. Remember that periodic maintenance can extend the life and minimize efficiency loss.

When building a home, or replacing your conventional water heaters explore the option of Tankless Water Heaters. Your wallet will thank you, and so will the planet!!!

For new builder homes, as well as gently used homes, in Bryan and College Station visit the MLS search on this site.

2 comments:

Joanne Hanson said...

Some interesting information Chris. I hope you don't mind but I copied a couple of sentences into something I wrote about using these water heaters at high altitude on my blog, and linked back to you on it! Thanks for the info!

Anonymous said...

Great information. Tankless water heaters are such a great way to reduce energy costs as well as being eco-friendly.