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A Heartburn Cure With A Spoon of Common Sense

Are you looking to shave some off your utility bill? One way to do this by upgrading to a new hot water heater, not just any heater, but a tankless hot water heater. With hot water accounting for about 20 percent of today’s utility costs this could be a worthwhile investment.

Now, before it’s an emergency, is a good time to consider the options. It’s been a decade, or more, since you’ve had to deal with this issue and in the meantime hot water heater technology have shown efficiency improvements, especially with tankless heaters.

Rising fuel costs have given everyone an increased awareness of the energy efficiency of home appliances. This can translate into sizable savings over the life of a water heater. For a gas tank model with average residential use this could mean 60 percent ER over a 12-15 year life, for a tankless model this could be 80-85 percent over 20 years. Electric models have an even higher rating.

It would be easy if energy efficiency was the only consideration with a tankless hot water heater but there are a few other points that will help in making the right choice. Two of these are easy to come by; which are the climate zone you live and how much hot water to need available at peak times to satisfy your needs. The third useful piece to the puzzle is what your utility companies charge for their service.

To make the right installation in your residence let’s look at what’s needed. Two numbers determine what size heater model you need. One is gallons per minute, which you can measure for yourself with a bucket and a watch to find your total need. The second is temperature rise, which will vary by 20 plus degrees by season. To do this subtract water entry temperature from 110 F degrees (usual shower temperature) to find the Temperature Rise. A manufacturer’s site will have a chart that plots these two numbers that will give you the Flow Rate of the heater you need. This will be the size heater you need.

Some residential water heaters seem to have been placed by chance rather function. If so, this is time to improve things. Residential tankless hot water heaters are very versatile in this regard. A main unit could be repositioned to shorten the run to some of the most used outlets while a smaller electric on-demand heater could be use to supplement in a bedroom or utility room. Multiple units can also be linked in parallel and centrally located to form whatever size heating system you need.

A residential tankless heater that fits your needs is what is important. Now that know how to calculate the size tankless heater to fit your home what’s left is to determine whether electric or natural gas is the best energy source. For most this will be gas but here is a way to compare. Converting KWH and cubic feet to Therms will give you a way to compare gas and electric. Add to that the cost of the heater and installation and you have the total cost which should be figured over the life of the heater - 20 years for a tankless, 12 years for a tank type.

Article Source: http://www.articlemotron.com

Now, before it’s an emergency, is a good time to consider the options. It’s been a decade, or more, since you’ve had to deal with this issue and in the meantime hot water heater technology have shown efficiency improvements, especially with tankless heaters.

Refer to this site for detailed installing a tankless water heater instructions. Follow this link for more info on choosing the best home tankless hot water heater

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