If you are looking to upgrade your water heating system, we recommend going with a tankless hot water heater. These tankless heaters heat your water efficiently and will help you save money each month on your utility costs.
What Is A Tankless Hot Water Heater?
A tankless water heater draws water into it and then heats it when you turn on the hot water faucet. There is no tank that holds hot water. This helps you to avoid costly energy bills. With regular hot water heaters, the tank has to be heated in order for the water to stay warm. This can draw a lot of power. With traditional hot water heaters, you have to worry about things like the bottom rusting out and issues with never having enough hot water. With a tankless water heater, you will have endless hot water to use.
Sizing Your Tankless Water Heater
When you decide to purchase a tankless hot water heater, you will need to make sure that it is the right size for your home. If you install a unit that is too large, you will be spending a lot of money out of pocket to purchase, and it may come on more than is necessary. If you go with a unit that is too small, you run the risk of not having enough hot water to go through your home. There are several factors when it comes to choosing the size of your tankless water heater.
• Flow rate. The flow rate is how many gallons the tankless water heater can produce. It is important that you find a unit that can provide you with enough gallons of water with each use. If you install a small unit, you will only be able to use your hot water in one device. Typically, if you are going to use both of your showers at the same time, you will need a flow rate of five gallons per minute.
• Temperature rise. In addition to knowing your flow rate, you will also want to know the temperature of the water going into the water heater and how hot it will be when it comes out of the unit. There are several things that will affect the temperature. This includes the season that it is in, whether or not your water comes from the ground, and whether or not you are on municipal water. You can find out this information by looking online. If you are dealing with a water temperature that is around 52 degrees, you will need to make sure that you buy a tank that can raise the temperature at least 50 degrees.
• Family size. You will want to take into consideration your family size when it comes to purchasing a tankless hot water heater. If there are only two of you, you can get away with a smaller water heater. If you have a large family, you will need a larger one.
• Usage. If you are purchasing a tankless water heater for a vacation home, you may not need a larger size. This will all depend on how many people will be staying there and how much hot water they will be using.
If you find that you are still unsure on how to determine the flow rate you need and the temperature rise that you need, please give our Winston-Salem plumbers a call. We will be happy to come out and make sure that you are purchasing the right size tankless water heater.
Can You DIY A Tankless Water Heater?
You may think that purchasing a tankless water heater and installing it would be an easy thing to do, but the truth of the matter is that unless you are experienced, you may hook them up wrong. When installing a tankless water heater, precision installation needs to be done. If the tank is installed wrong, it can lead to leaking and the breakdown of the machine. You also run the risk of installing the wrong sized water heater, and you will not have enough hot water for your home. If you have gas in your home, and you choose to go with a gas water heater, you will want to make sure that you only hire a professional. Gas is extremely volatile, and if you make a mistake, you may create a gas leak in your home, which will put your life and your loved ones lives at risk. At Bodenheimer Plumbing Services, we will be happy to install your water heater for you and ensure that it functions like it should.
Instead of trying to figure out what size tankless water heater you need and how to install it, call us at Bodenheimer Plumbing Services of Winston-Salem, NC. We will take a look at your family’s needs to ensure that you get the properly sized water heater. We are certified, insured, and fully trained in the area of water heater installation. Never trust just anyone to install a new tankless hot water heater system. You will want to make sure that you hire only an experienced plumber to install this for you.
