While tankless water heaters run more efficiently than storage tank water heaters replacing a tank water heater with a tankless can be expensive and the payback time can be longer than the warranty.
Electric tankless water heater versus tank.
It uses high powered burners to rapidly heat water as it runs through a heat exchanger and deliver it directly to your faucets or shower without storing it in a tank.
The average cost for a 40 or 50 gallon water tank is about 1 000.
Installation fees are split between the cost of the water heater and the cost of installation.
Typically tankless water heaters provide hot water at a rate of 2 5 gallons 7 6 15 2 liters per minute.
You re not constantly heating a tank in anticipation of needing it you only use energy when you use hot water.
Find out more about these problems in our article tankless water heaters.
Either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water.
They re also more expensive to install repair and maintain.
You don t need to wait for a storage tank to fill up with enough hot water.
So now that you know why electric tankless aren t a good choice your options are limited to tank style electric water heaters.
Expensive tankless water heaters are significantly more expensive upfront than traditional tank water heaters.
There s one key reason for that.
Cost of installing a storage water heater.
In a comprehensive 2015 analysis of residential water heating systems from the propane education research council propane tankless systems were found to offer the lowest aco in eight out of nine scenarios covering diff e rent climates and housing types when compared with electric water heaters heat pump water heaters and heating oil systems.
Depending on the rate charged by your plumber per hour the installation fee will be between 45 to 150 per hour.
Gas fired tankless water heaters produce higher flow rates than electric ones.
Tankless water heaters.
However a tankless water heater s output limits the flow rate.
And the best of those are hybrid heat pump water heaters.
In many cases it takes about 20 years or more before you ll recoup the cost in energy savings.
Fully heated to the target temperature by either a gas burner or electric resistance heating coils.
For most households they can produce a savings of 100 or more every year.
Tankless water heaters heat water directly without the use of a storage tank.