Water Heater Wednesday: Tankless Water Heaters

Tankless Water Heaters

 

This Wednesday we’re going to begin a mini series on tankless water heaters. Today we’re going to talk about what a tankless water heater is and how it works.

A tankless water heater provides hot water as it is needed instead of holding on to a bunch of hot water that isn’t needed (which costs you extra money). Its a similar concept to running the heat in your home during the winter- if you aren’t home you don’t run it. If you don’t need the hot water, don’t heat it up.

Tankless water heaters work by heating water directly as opposed to heating up a stored tank of water. When a hot water faucet is turned on in your home, cold water travels through a pipe into the water heater unit. Tankless water heaters can be electric (an electric element heats the water) or gas (a gas burner heats the water).

Tankless water heaters provide hot water at a rate of 2-5 gallons per minute. While this is a great rate, some tankless water haters can’t keep up with the demand for hot water in a large household. To circumvent this problem, you can install two or more tankless water heaters to keep up with demand. Since you’re not paying extra money to heat water that isn’t needed, the only additional cost to you is the initial cost of the water heater. You can also install tankless water heaters that are designated for certain appliances.

 

Next week, we’ll talk about more benefits of tankless water heaters and how they can save you money!

 

Residential Plumber Heroes

When most people here the word hero they think of police officers, firefighters, and soldiers. 99% of people would never include their residential plumber on their list of heroes. If you’re one of those people who don’t think residential plumbers are heroes, read on to find out why they should be included on your list!

  • Clean water can reduce water related deaths by 21%. Sanitation can reduce them by up to 38%. Plumbers are a key factor in maintaining clean water and sanitation.
  • Residential plumbers have been around for about 3,000 years. Even ancient Egyptians had plumbers.
  • Residential plumbers make up less than .2% of the world’s population, and the world’s population uses approximately 3,542,000,000,000,000 liters of water per year.
  • The United States uses the most water per capita of any country in the world.

You can help out your local residential plumber by regularly checking your pipes for leaks, not running the water when it isn’t necessary, and switching out your faucets and shower heads to aerated ones that use less water.

Next time you see a plumber, be sure to thank him. In the meantime, if you find yourself in need of a residential plumber call us at (678) 822-7095!