The gas and electricity used to power your water heater will account for a large percentage of your electricity consumption. This is the main reason that most systems use both gas and electricity to heat water. There are also hybrid systems that can use the water heater to help with the heating of the air. These work if you have a central boiler or furnace. This article explains the most important things to consider when shopping for a new water heater.

Tankless Water Heaters

The storage system is one of the most important considerations when buying a water heater. How your hot water is stored can affect the capacity and the time it takes to heat it up. Of course, nobody likes waiting several minutes for their shower to heat up. In most single dwelling home, especially those that have multiple stories, you will need some sort of storage tank for your water. For large families use more water, you will need to have water stored. These provide water quickly, but they aren't as efficient because they are often over-productive. That is, tank heaters usually preheat the water, and some of this heat can be lost if it is stored for a long time before it is used. So, it needs to be heated up again when it is used.

Tankless (or on-demand) heaters are more efficient because they only use electricity when the hot water is actually turned on. Tankless systems are still very popular, but usually on smaller properties that require less hot water. There is often a small wait time to actually heat the water, but it is usually minimal in small apartments where the water doesn't travel that far.

Tankless heaters are also much smaller, and they can be mounted to the wall, and can even be installed directly inside the unit.

Hybrid Systems

Hybrid heaters use a mixture of on-demand and tank technologies. They have small tanks that store a small amount of water that does not lose its heat. The heat created can also be incorporated into the heating of your air when it connected with the HVAC system.

The water heater in your home is obviously important. If you use a lot of hot water, when you shower, do laundry, clean dishes, and the like, it can cost a lot of money. So, even though modern units that have better efficiency ratings cost more to install, they can represent quite significant savings in the long run.

Talk to a company like Barnetts Heating & Air Conditioning for more information.