Is It Time to Replace Your Water Heater?

5 Reasons to Make the Shift to a Tankless Model This Season

Your water heater is one of the hardest-working pieces of equipment in your home. You may not give it much thought, but between bathing and showering, washing dishes, and doing laundry, the typical American household uses between 60 and 65 gallons of hot water every single day. Your water heater provides all that hot water, day in and day out!

Cold weather like we get here in New Hampshire can make your water heater work even harder—and that nonstop workload takes a toll. The life expectancy for a conventional tank-style water heater is between eight and 10 years. But don’t wait for your water heater to fail to replace it! Like other essential equipment in your home, such as your refrigerator or oven, you don’t want to go long without it.

Should I Repair or Replace?

If your water heater is more than 10 years old, it likely won’t work as well as it did just a few years ago. You’ll see this with higher energy bills, or water not getting quite as hot during routine usage. Also, hard water can cause lime buildup in your water heater, reducing its efficiency and shortening its lifespan.

Other signs that your water heater is heading for a breakdown include seeing water around the base of your tank or any other signs of leaks, and rusty water—or rust—on the sides of your tank. Strange rumbling coming from your tank is a sign of sediment buildup that leads to corrosion and potential tank failure. If any of these signs are noticed, contact us right away for a service call. We’ll help diagnose the problem and give you an expert opinion on what your next move should be.

In general, replacing a water heater that is over a decade old typically makes more financial sense than repairing it. That’s due in large part to today’s high-efficiency water heaters saving you a great deal of money in the long run.

5 Advantages of Tankless Water Heaters

If a replacement is in fact needed, here are five reasons that your new water heater should be a tankless model:

1. Unlimited Hot Water: Traditional tank heaters can run out of hot water if you use a lot all at once. Tankless water heaters use an electric pilot and a hot propane flame to heat water instantly, on-demand. There’s no tank, so it can’t hit empty!
2. Increased Savings: Tankless water heaters save energy by instantly heating water when you need it, rather than keeping a large tank hot all the time. All that efficiency means you’ll also save money by lowering your energy costs by as much as 40%.
3. Flexibility: With no storage tank, a tankless water heater is small—about the size of a carry-on suitcase. It can also be wall-mounted, which means a tankless water heater can be placed just about anywhere in the house, including closets and crawl spaces.
4. Quality Components: The more durable components of a tankless water heater system fail less often and can often be repaired rather than replaced.
5. Longer Equipment Life: The primary culprit in the limited lifespan of a conventional water heater is the corrosive water stored in its tank. Because it doesn’t store water, a tankless water heater will last 18 to 20 years—almost double that of its tanked counterpart!

Want to learn more about the benefits of a tankless water heater? Pemi River Fuels can help. We sell and install a broad selection of high-efficiency tankless water heaters from Rinnai, and we can help you choose the best option for your needs. We can also help you take advantage of money-saving rebates. Enjoy energy efficiency and comfort with a new water heater! Contact us today to get started.