Tankless Water Heater Savings

Up until the tankless water heaters came out, the only style available was a tank style. Tankless water heater savings are major compared to any tank style.

The biggest inefficiency of a tank style water heater is the fact that it's a tank. A tank of hot water that is constantly losing heat and being heated. No matter how well the tank is insulated it is still losing heat. So naturally the thing to do is make it tankless.

Tankless water heaters hold another big advantage over the tank style. They only come on when the hot water is turned on. There is no wasted gas or electricity for constantly heating water when it's not needed. This makes this system especially appealing for people who are out of town a lot.

The only drawback of the tankless water heater is the initial installation price. It might cost two to three times more than a conventional style. I have shopped around for tankless water heaters and found $800-$1,000 is a pretty typical price and $300-$400 for conventional tank styles. If you can afford the initial cost you will see savings down the road.

The average increase in efficiency is 22% with a tankless vs. a tank model. I will use myself as an example here. I have a 40 gallon gas tank water heater that usually gets 4 showers a day. I added up my last year's gas bill and because that is the only gas appliance I use it's easy to figure out what my savings would be. I took my last year's total gas bill and knocked off 22%. I would have saved $74. So after ten years I would have saved $740, which would most likely cover the difference in price between the two styles. Every year after would be savings.

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