Buildings

Water Heater Replacement 2

Last month we talked about what to do when you think your water heater is close to death. As with other deaths, a little planning ahead can have a lot of benefits.

Here are some other things to think about as you're doing your research:

How much hot water do you need?
Most of the guidelines for sizing water heaters are based on out-dated assumptions that the current economy has many people questioning. Many of us have water-saving shower heads and use laundry detergents and washing machines that don't require hot water. Is it really essential to guarantee we always have as much hot water as we want, or could we live a perfectly happy life even if we had to wait 20 minutes for a shower a few times a year when the relatives come for a weekend? If we could save a few bucks a month by having a smaller tank, would we choose to do that? There's no right answer. Some of us feel it is absolutely essential to never run out of hot water. Others would rather put up with some minor inconvenience and use that money to go out to dinner, donate to Haiti relief efforts or buy a book. Most of us never have the opportunity to make that choice because it's made for us or made under pressure. A little thought and planning can give us a little more control.
Tanks vs. tankless
Tankless water heaters are not new, but they are promoted with religious zeal. They are probably much more common, worldwide, than the storage tank models most of us grew up with. When I lived in England in the 60's, most apartments came with tankless water heaters. When you wanted hot water, you fed coins into a slot. In much of the third world, if you stay in a hotel or guest house in the moderate economy range, hot water is created by an electric heater mounted on the shower head, bare wires and all. Sometimes, this can be a shocking experience. Modern tankless water heaters available in the U.S. are much more sophisticated, efficient and safe, but they are not a cure-all. Electric ones are rarely worth considering, and whether gas ones will save you money depends a lot on who lives in the house. Some people, particularly teenagers, will take endless showers if there is endless hot water, increasing your bills. Modern tanks are much better insulated than older models, so the "standby losses" – the energy lost by the tank when you're not using hot water – are not as great as they used to be, so the tankless models don't have as big an advantage. And there have been a lot of reports of maintenance problems, particularly for people with well water.
How about a solar water heater?
These are much more expensive in the short run, $6-7,000 or more, but there are excellent state and federal tax credits available in North Carolina that can reduce the cost by 65 percent. That means if you pay $7,000 for the system, you'll get back $4,550 at tax time, so it's costing you $2,450. Typically, you can expect to save about $300-400 per year, so the system will pay for itself in six to eight years, and should last for at least 15. The key is to get an experienced, reliable installer, who will be in business long enough to service the system when it needs it. Saving a few hundred dollars on bargain equipment or a low-bid contractor is probably not wise.
Any new products I should know about?
There's a relatively new product called the Heat Pump Water Heater. While they've been around for 10 or 15 years or more, very few have been installed in North Carolina. My limited experience with them has been very positive: they seem to work well, saving almost as much as solar heaters, but for a much lower cost, typically $1,200-2,000 installed. How well they'll hold up, and how easy they will be to service are questions at this point, but this option is definitely worth considering, particularly if you have a good local contractor nearby who installs them.

Finally, if you do find yourself in that crisis situation, you can still get a water heater that's more efficient than the standard models. Get an electric model with an Energy Factor (EF) of at least .93 or a gas model with an EF of at least .61. These won't save you nearly as much as the high-efficiency types above, but will perform a lot better than the standard bargain models.