What is a Tankless Water Heater?

   At ZeroEnergy Contracting our ZeroEnergy Team evaluates each home to determine if it is a good candiate for installing one or more Tankless Water Heaters. Tankless Water Heaters heat tap water quickly, efficiently, and only as hot water is being requested. As a result, these systems are 24 to 34 percent more efficient than conventional, tank-based water heaters that heat a tank of water at all times — even while we sleep. Tankless Water Heateres are also called Instantaneous or Demand Water Heaters. Traditional storage water heaters produce standby energy losses that cost you money.

   Tankless Water Heaters heat the water directly without the use of a storage tank. Therefore, they avoid the standby heat losses associated with storage water heaters. When a hot water tap is turned on, cold water travels through a pipe into the unit. In an electric Tankless Water Heater an electric element heats the water. In a gas-fired Tankless Water Heater a gas burner heats the water. As a result, Tankless Water Heaters deliver an endless supply of hot water. You don't need to wait for a storage tank to fill back up with enough hot water after the person ahead of you took a long of shower. Typically, Tankless Water Heaters provide hot water at a rate of 2 – 5 gallons per minute. Typically, gas-fired Tankless Water Heaters will produce higher flow rates than electric Tankless Water Heaters. For homes that use 41 gallons or less of hot water daily, Tankless Water Heaters can be 24% to 34% more energy efficient than conventional storage tank water heaters. They can be 8% to 14% more energy efficient for homes that use a lot of hot water, around 86 gallons per day. You can achieve an even greater energy savings of 27% to 50% if you install a Tankless Water Heater at each hot water outlet.