There are many energy efficient ways to heat water for your home.  One of the best ways is to change out your existing water heater to a tankless water heater.   Tankless water heaters can be 30% more energy efficient than conventional storage tank water heaters. 

Typically, 2 things happen at home when hot water is needed that impact the environment.  One, is waste of water, a precious natural resource.  For example, everyday we end up wasting multiple gallons of cold water having to wait for the cold water to pass first that’s been sitting in the water pipes the entire night.

Second, a whole lot of gas energy is wasted creating an increase of your household’s carbon footprint.   Why?  Because as the warm water that has been sitting in stand-by mode in the water tank all night starts to get depleted, that action in turn causes the water heater’s pilot flame to kick on, using MORE gas, to put it in higher gear to start heating up MORE hot water.  Here’s the wasteful part: the hot water heater doesn’t stop working until the entire tank is FULL of warm water again even though the demand for hot water has already been satisfied. And, the pilot light continues to burn just to keep a constant supply of heated water all day in the water tank.

Now here’s the beauty of a tankless water heater and why it is more energy efficient:  It works without the use of the traditional, bulky hot water storage tank AND it only heats the water upon demand therefore using energy more efficiently and decreasing the impact on the environment.   The advantage is threefold:  First, you no longer need the big, unsightly, traditional water storage tank which will free up space in your garage.  Next, the water is heated only on demand and because they do not store a reservoir of hot water there are no stand-by losses. Last, you can use an electric water heater that uses heating coils to heat the water instead of having to use gas to fuel the pilot light and flame that is otherwise needed to heat an entire tank of water.    In electric tankless water heaters heating coils are used so only the amount of cold water needed passes through the heating coils before the hot water is dispersed to wherever it is needed.

There are plenty of tankless options depending on your household’s usage requirements.   You can either install a “whole house” or several smaller ones in the areas that are close to where the demand of hot water would be (in the kitchen under the sink) or separate ones at appliances that would need them like a dishwasher or clothes washer.  

Switching to a tankless water heater can save you between 25% to 50% on your annual energy bill because gas is no longer needed to keep a constant supply of hot water in stand-by mode when hot water is not needed. 

At home, women and teenagers will love it! No more running out of hot water in the morning! Your wallet will love it too!   See if a tankless water heater is right for you.   And if you’re already using a tankless water heater, post a comment to let us know how that’s working for you.