What Is a Water Heater?
Whether municipal or privately sourced, all water comes into your home cold. Unless you love chilly showers, you’ll need some way to warm it up. Enter the water heater.
Water heaters crank up the temperature on your home’s water supply, whether it flows through the heater or it’s stored in a reservoir tank. The heater might do this with a flame or a solid heating component. Heaters can be powered by natural gas, propane or electricity.
Some of the key factors to consider when buying a water heater include:
- Price: The full cost includes the purchase, installation and any additional work such as running vent lines or upgrading your electrical service.
- Fuel source: This is a personal preference. The easiest and most affordable option is almost always to stay with the type of fuel your existing heater uses.
- Capacity: Your needs may be different, but generally a 40-gallon tank provides enough hot water for a home with two occupants, and a 50-gallon tank for four or five people. For six or more, get as large a tank as possible.
- Tankless vs. traditional: Tankless units heat the water as it passes through its coils, creating an endless stream of hot water. The downsides are higher cost and installation expenses.
- Energy efficiency: Higher efficiency units carry a higher initial cost, but the energy savings will usually recoup the investment in a few years. Tankless systems are also more efficient, but their higher cost means a longer “break-even” period.
- Tank construction: Tank heaters can suffer from sediment build-up, making them less energy efficient and shortening their life. You can drain them manually to reduce this risk, or look for models with self-cleaning elements and ceramic-lined tanks.
Article source here: 9 Best Water Heaters of 2022
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