Is it time to think about getting a new water heater for your home? Age of the water heater, poor performance, leaks, and corrosion are all indicators that a new water heater is in your near future. But what kind should you get?
If you want to maximize your efficiency, which provides environmental and financial benefits, choose either a tankless or heat pump water heater system.
What are these options? How are they different from the traditional water heater you’re used to? What are the different benefits and drawbacks of each? Read on to get a primer on heating water with a heat pump water heater vs. tankless in Pine Brook, NJ so you can discover which is best for you.
Tankless Water Heaters
Like a standard storage or tank water heater, the tankless system uses fuel in the form of natural gas or electricity to directly provide heat to the water you want warmed. Unlike a tank system, the tankless variety does not keep a great deal of hot water on standby. Instead, it heats just the amount you are using in the moment.
These systems can provide 2-5 gallons of hot water every minute, and there will never be a recharge period when the tank has refilled with cold water and needs time to heat up again. But for families that use a lot of hot water at once, for example if laundry or dishes are often being done while family members are also showering, that amount of hot water just might not cut it, leaving everyone with lukewarm water.
The cost of tankless water heaters is higher than standard tank heaters, though the increased efficiency and long lifespan of the system will help to even out the cost eventually. Installation is quicker, especially in situations that would otherwise involve wrestling a huge tank up or down stairs or into confined spaces. And since they are so small, they can be installed in places that are too small for tanks, or can free up space for other uses, like storage.
Heat Pump Water Heaters
A heat pump does not directly use fuel to provide heat. The usual application, heating and cooling the air of your home, involves using electricity to circulate refrigerant. It’s actually the refrigerant that causes the temperature change, not by using energy you pay for, but by utilizing the temperature differential between the refrigerant and the air to move heat around.
Heat pump water heaters use this principle to provide hot water at an extremely low energy cost. They can be standalone systems, or they can be part of the same heat pump system that heats and cools your home. They operate very efficiently in warm climates all year long, but in places with freezing winters, they use a backup system for providing hot water in the coldest weather.
They are still an amazing way to cut energy costs and environmental impacts, even here in New Jersey. Again, they are more costly than standard tank water heaters, with a wide range of costs for various models but generally similar in cost to a tankless model. You might find that their extreme efficiency means you’ll recoup the cost sooner, though.
And because they are tank-based systems, you’ll have the drawbacks of space usage and challenging installation but also the benefit of being able to use a larger amount of hot water at once. If you’re in the market for an AC system at the same time that you’re considering getting a water heater, this would be a spectacular choice.
Do you have more questions? We’d love to give you some answers.
Contact MarGo Plumbing Heating Cooling Inc. today for more information about your water heater options!