One of the newest innovations is the tankless water heater. The idea behind this type of water heater is to reduce wasted energy by heating the water as it runs through the pipe instead of keeping it in a tank and spending energy to keep it at one temperature twenty four hours a day.

But is a tankless water heater right for you? Hotels have been using them for years because of the sheer number of people using hot water at the same time. They seem to work very well in that particular situation but tankless water heaters are very new to the consumer market. The water that flows through the pipes isn’t halted at any point to be heated so you may have to set the thermostat a bit higher to get the temperature of water you want for your shower, bath or dishwasher.

The second thing to consider, of course, is the price. A tankless water heater runs about ten times the cost of a traditional electric or gas water heater which certainly makes one stop and think! If you are one person living in a private home you may not see any savings from one of these water heaters for many, many years! However, if you have a family it would probably be cost efficient to invest in one. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit and see if the price comes down in a year or so.

What about refurbished tankless water heaters? This may not be such a good idea, even though you’ll spend a lot less on one of them. Refurbished means that the unit has failed, been returned to the factory and rebuilt to work again. Since you don’t know what was wrong with the unit, you’ll have no idea what to expect or watch for. Contrary to popular belief, refurbished doesn’t mean “good as new”, it just means that the unit has had a part replaced. What if another part made it fail or a safety device is faulty? There is usually no warranty provided with refurbished appliances so if you do decide to buy a refurbished tankless water heater, start saving some cash to deal with breakdowns.

You can find more information on tankless water heaters and other ways to save energy in your home and business at www.energyheater.com, the website that provides all the information you need to make intelligent decisions about your energy usage.

For more information on water heaters, visit http://www.energyheater.com and http://www.ventilationroof.com .

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