Installing tankless water heaters has a huge number of advantages, including reducing energy bills and saving water.
The reason for this is that tankless water heaters only draw energy whenever hot water is needed and for only a short period. Also, they only heat a relatively small volume of water compared to traditional heaters.
They are also associated with long useful life because unlike traditional water heaters; tankless heaters are run less frequently.
For people whose homes lack enough space, tankless water heaters are ideal because they are small in size.
Because of their many advantages, tankless water heaters are certainly a smart choice for anybody. However, not all of them are the same; some brands give better performance and are also more durable.
For this reason, there are some factors that you need to consider when looking for an ideal brand for your home.
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How to Choose the Best Tankless Water Heater Brand
As a matter of fact, when it comes to buying a tankless water heater, you are spoilt for choice because of the availability of numerous different brands on the market today.
For this reason, it is important to be very particular about what you are looking for in a tankless water heater to make an informed choice. Some of the most important factors to consider when choosing the best model that suits your needs include:
# Fuel Type: Tankless water heaters use three types of energy sources. You can choose a model that uses propane, natural gas, or electric power.
However, before you pick your choice, get to know the merits of each type of brand. This is especially important if you have more than one energy sources at home. For instance, if you have both electric and gas sources, you need to consider which brand suits you best. Electric models are cheaper to maintain compared to gas models. They are also more expensive than gas and are safer.
For propane and gas models, yearly inspections are necessary to enhance safety. They are also cheaper than electric models. Essentially, you need to weigh all of these factors before coming up with a conclusive answer as to which brand is best for you.
Also, it is also most ideal to buy a brand that uses the same type of energy source that you have at home. For instance, if electricity is the only source of energy, it makes economic sense to buy an electric tankless water heater instead of gas or propane one.
# Size: Size is an important consideration when buying a tankless water heater. The ideal size will depend on your specific needs. If you want a tankless water heater for use with a single faucet, you should ideally buy a smaller model with a flow rate of approximately half a gallon per minute.
If your intention is to supply hot water to the whole house, then the best option is to buy a unit that has the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously. A single whole house unit is available on the market and is certainly most ideal for this purpose.
# Flow Rate: Another important factor to consider is the flow rate of the tankless water heater. It helps determine how much hot water the tankless heater can provide at one time. If you intend to buy a unit that can supply hot water to the whole house, you need to buy a brand with a high Gallon per Minute Rate (GPM). Different brands of single whole-house units with high GPM are available and are ideal for this purpose.
The important thing is to buy a brand that is highly rated. Alternatively, if you need a tankless water heater for your sink, garage, shower, or any other separated structure, the best option is to buy a brand that has a low GPM. This is because you don’t need a large volume of water at one time in such locations.
# Energy Efficiency: Before you buy a particular brand of tankless water heater, it is important to establish its energy efficiency rating. This is because a brand that has a high Energy Factor (EF) rating is more energy efficient. Essentially, this type of brand will enable you to spend less on energy bills. The EF rating is used to measure the efficiency of a particular brand when it comes to converting energy into heat.
# Warranty: As a matter of fact, different brands of tankless water heaters come with different types of warranties. Ideally, it is important to go for a unit that has a manufacturer’s warranty on both parts and workmanship. It is also important to understand the complete scope of the manufacturer’s warranty on the particular brand you are interested in so that you can make an informed choice.
# Availability of Local Service Providers: This is also another important factor to consider when selecting a tankless water heater. Try to establish whether or not the particular brand you are intending to buy can be serviced locally in case of a breakdown. It would be unreasonable to buy a brand that will cost you a fortune to repair simply because you cannot find a local service provider.
# Reliability: When choosing a tankless water heater, it is important to read online reviews in order to establish the ratings of specific brands. User reviews help guide you when it comes to selecting the best performing brand. This is because they are always highly rated by people who have bought and used them. Ideally, go for a brand that has a rating of 4.5 to 5 stars because you are not likely to go wrong.
Location: You will also need to consider where you want to install your tankless water heater. There are both outdoor and indoor units on the market. For this reason, you need to buy a brand that best suits your needs. In addition, outdoor units are less expensive to install.
# Maintenance: Tankless water heaters are prone to mineral scale build-up, which, if not cleaned up, will interfere with the proper performance of the unit. For this reason, tankless water heaters require annual maintenance for them to perform optimally and also have a longer useful life. However, some brands are difficult to clean because of their design and other factors. Therefore, it’s important to do proper research and buy a brand that is easy to clean and maintain.
Conclusion
These are some of the most important factors that you need to put into consideration when choosing the best tankless water heater for your home.
The increase in the prevalence of tankless water heaters has ushered a surge in the number of brands that offer these energy-efficient appliances. As more people learn about their benefits, we will continue to see more innovative and improved versions of tankless water heaters hitting the market from established leading brands as well as new entrants. So follow our advice to identify the best of the bunch.
If you need help picking the best tankless water heater, please feel free to contact us and we will get back to you soon!
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Hi, This is Luis. Author at “TheHeatersGuide”. I am a graduate in Mechanical Engineering. Currently researching on heating technology. However, I have learned many home heating techniques and still learning the home heating technolgy. And I love to share my research and reviews.
I like that you mentioned that we should be choosing a heater that has a high energy factor. Like you said, it will make you have a smaller energy bill in the future. With the salary that my husband and I have, it will be the best for us to choose something that will not give us too an increased energy bill.
Nice blog. It will surely help beginners update their knowledge. The efforts you have put in to create the posts are quite interesting. Looking forward to seeing you soon in a new post.
However, you may feel that they are at a loss when confronted with a wide variety of tankless water Heater available these days. Especially in a home with kids or a large household, an endless supply of hot water is required for bathing to handwashing, dishwashing to laundry, you need hot water almost all the time.