Water heaters are amazing inventions! Within seconds of turning a faucet, we get hot water for scrubbing our hands and cleansing our bodies. We can wash our dishes, our laundry, and our countertops, all because of this modern appliance that we tuck away and forget.
Four happy facts to know about your loyal water heater.
ONE: Water heaters don’t demand our attention
Water heaters are quiet, loyal appliances. They are an essential component of modern life, but they don’t demand anything from us. They’re fine with remaining hidden, far from the bustling life of a kitchen filled with shiny stars like fancy refrigerators and pricey stoves.
They don’t need to be touched, wiped, stocked, polished, or turned on like their flashier cousins, those demanding fridges and ovens. Water heaters are unassuming, down-to-earth, and practical in their appearance, happy to don basic white without the need for stainless steel bodies or gaudy knobs.
Water heaters of all styles can be put in basements, utility room corners, attics, and even tiny little closets created just for them.
The water heater is one well-behaved appliance, rarely acting up. Once a water heater is properly installed by a certified technician, few problems result until they get so old that things start to wear out.
TWO: Water heaters last a long time
Other than the yearly draining of the water heater which manufacturers require for the warranty to be valid, water heaters don’t require a lot of maintenance and can last a long time.
The average lifespan of a standard tank water heater is 8-12 years, and if you’ve had it drained every year, it can last longer.
Tankless, on-demand water heaters have even greater longevity than the standard tank variety. Tankless models last around twenty years. The new kid on the block, solar water heaters, also last two decades.
THREE: Water heaters are energy efficient
Frugal and careful, water heaters are energy-efficient, and the newer they are, the more energy-conservative they are likely to be.
The ones that wear the Energy Star labels are the best, focused on converting every bit of their energy to heat. Today, the minimum Efficiency Factor (EF) of water heaters mandated by law is .62, which means that 62% of energy is converted to heat. Energy Star-rated water heaters have an EF of .67-.70.
The more insulation water heaters have, the more thermal they become, and models with the best thermal efficiency have .95 EF. The cost of that added insulation makes the price of the water heater go up as well, but your utility costs will be lowered for many years.
FOUR: Water heaters come in all styles and sizes for all needs and budgets
“Modern” water heaters were first developed by Benjamin Waddy Maughan in 1868. Sadly, they relied on natural gas but didn’t have a way to vent the natural gas outside the home, making his device unsafe. Maughan’s water heater never took off.
More than twenty years later, Edwin Ruud developed the first gas-powered water heater. It was a big cast-iron barrel-shaped device that had copper coils inside. A simple valve turned on the burners that heated the water. This device worked, and Edwin Ruud opened his water heater company in 1897.
Today, we have all styles and sizes for all needs and budgets.
The most common standard hot water heaters are forty- or fifty-gallon size, usually good for supplying hot water for a family of four. If you have a bigger family or have high hot water demands, you can get hot water tanks up to 80 gallons. Smaller units exist for heating up water on demand, like under a sink. These range from 2.5 to 19 gallons.
Tankless water heaters last longer, are smaller, and are more energy-efficient. These days we have solar water heater options that didn’t exist before. Like tankless water heaters, solar water heaters have long lives and are very efficient in sunny climates like ours.
Another happy fact
We don’t have to chop wood to make a fire, then haul a heavy pot of water on top of the fire to heat it up. We aren’t limited to weekly baths, and our dishes don’t have to be done in tepid water from the nearest stream.
Our loyal hot water heaters are taking care of us every day.
But the happy fact is that if your water heater is old and ailing…
If you want to invest in a more efficient system….
If you’re interested in exploring new options for water heating in the future….
ServiceOne is here to help! Through the month of July 2022, we are offering $150 OFF the installation of any type of water heater.
Call us. We’ll heat you up and put you IN hot water instead of getting you OUT of it!