The Inside Outside Guys: Water heaters and efficiency, longevity

The good news is you have choices. The bad news may be that, at some point, you’ll have to make one.

Since 1869, when Edwin Rudd invented the first automatic storage tank type gas water heater, domestic water heating has been an issue in housing.

Water heating occupies, on average, 18% of a home’s total energy use costing $267 a year.

The average home requires 80-120 gallons per day of hot water for everything from washing clothes and dishes to bathing.

Your choices in most cases are reduced to three types of units, a tankless unit, a conventional moderate efficiency tank heater, or a high efficiency tank heater with power exhaust.

The power source is typically going to be either natural gas or electricity, with electricity costing up to four times as much per BTU of heat generated.

In Utah, you might add a fourth choice called geotherm, where the Department of Energy, DOE, is sponsoring a large grant to explore what 72 countries throughout the world already know: Hot water from the Earth, if accessible, can supply all of our domestic heated water needs.

There are also some hybrid systems that work in tandem with a home’s hydronic heating system.

Home Advisor tells us that cost is one consideration, with the average professionally installed price of a residential tank unit hovering around $1,000 compared to $2,500 dollars for a tankless or demand unit.  Those numbers can change considerably depending on what part of the country your home is in.

Another consideration is flow rate required. Ask yourself, how many times during the day do you require hot water at multiple points of use, POU?

A shower will require 2.5-3.0 gallons per minute, GPM, while a tub might demand 4.0 GPM and a sink between 0.5 and 1.5 gallons every minute.

Demand, or “instant” water heaters may be great for a growing family that has multiple persons taking showers back-to-back on a daily basis.

Keep in mind that any unit will not furnish instant hot water to the POU unless you either install the unit right at the POU or you install a recirculation loop between the heater and the POU.

Instead you will experience what the Industry calls cold water sandwiching, where the water in the pipes between the unit and POU cools down and has to be exhausted before the heated water behind it reaches the sink or shower.

From an efficiency standpoint, standard tanks experience standby heat loss to the space they occupy as they constantly heat water, lose the heat to surrounding air, then heat the water again until such time as the home demands hot water.

Newer tanks will have more thermal insulation to help reduce this cycling, and closed cell foam pipe insulation is readily available and easily installed on exposed runs of pipe.

Other potential benefits of a demand system are space saving for smaller homes, a predicted lifespan of up to 20 years, and energy savings that, according to DOE, may run from 8% to 50% depending on several variables. Energy Star says an average family of four will save $100 a year with a tankless system.

Know that water quality can be an issue and, in some cases, may void a tankless unit warranty.

Knowing you will one day have to make the choice can be daunting, but having some data to factor into the equation helps.

Also, knowing you’ve got great professionals like Shelby Mechanical in Shelby Township and Waterwork Plumbing in Ferndale to help you out is a difference maker.

Neither company will try to “sell” you one over the other but, instead, will provide facts and information so you can make an informed decision.

Good companies will also provide water quality checks and annual service to extend the life of these appliances.

So, when the time comes to make a water heating decision, check out the professionals at insideoutsideguys.com.

For more advice, listen to the Inside Outside Guys every Saturday and Sunday on AM760-WJR from 10 a.m. to noon or contact us at insideoutsideguys.com.