Water Heater
There are many ways to lower the need and cost of a water heater such as turning down the thermostate when your away or another way is to go with a tankless water heater. Water heating can account up to 25% of your energy consumption so this is definitely something that every family should address in order to save those extra bucks. Tankless water heaters can avid heat loss that are associated with water heaters due in part becase the water is heated when its needed only. Normally when you turn on the hot water, the cold water has to go through piping and into the water heater which it is then heated by an element or a gas burner which then makes the water hot and ready for use but with a tankless water heater, you never have to wait for the tank to fill before you can use the hot water. Tankless water heaters have an infinite supply of hot water where as water tanks do have a limit.
Based on what was discussed above, it seems like a no brainer to go with a tankless water heater right? well not exactly. Tankless units do have limits on the water flow rate. Generally, tankless units produce hot water flow rates of up to 5 gallons per minute. It is important to note this when buying a tankless water heater if you own a big home and plan to use lots of hot water simultaneously as the tankless water heater may be insufficient under that situation.
By installing a tankless water heater you can essentially save up to 35% more energy then your conventional water tank heater for homes that use 45 gallons or less of hot water per day. Over 45 gallons then your rate of your savings will drop but will still be a savings up to 15% at around 80 gallons per day of hot water. Also another note is that if you use an excessive amount of hot water then you can achieve even more savings by installing tankless water heater at each hot water outlet and you can save up to 50%.
Tankless water heaters is definitely something to consider if your looking to save money and reduce your energy consumption. Always take in account what you and your family use on average as it will help in reducing costs and saving you money.