Do Tankless Water Heaters Use A Lot Of Electricity

Tankless water heaters can be powered by gas or electricity but even gas powered tankless water heaters rely on an electric control panel to operate the system.

Do tankless water heaters use a lot of electricity.

Tankless gas water heaters have an internal pc board electronic ignition and an electronic thermostat which is required to operate the water heater. This piezoelectric starter makes a spark which ignites the natural gas to start heating the water you ll use to take your nice warm shower. This can sometimes offset the elimination of standby energy losses when compared to a storage water heater. The alternative is to use an electric water heater even though the water heater uses natural gas as its primary fuel some models do indeed use electricity to get the pilot light burning.

However although gas fired tankless water heaters tend to have higher flow rates than electric ones they can waste energy if they have a constantly burning pilot light. Water heating systems are the second biggest user of electricity in the home accounting for an average of 18 percent of electricity costs explains the u s. The average home has a total capacity of 200 amps which means an upgrade would be needed. This energy star certified titan of a tank delivers up to 72 gallons of hot water per hour dependent on tank capacity which is a rate much faster than the normal electric water heater.

A typical tank style water heater draws less than 5 000 watts and it will have relatively low standby losses. Not only are modern models extremely efficient but these appliances are also very safe. Without a power source these components will not operate preventing the tankless water heater from producing hot water. Since they don t need to heat water when you aren t using them tankless heaters may only run for two hours a day or so.

The seisco model ra 28 for instance has four 7 000 watt elements for a total electrical load of 28 000 watts. This extra load requires at least 120 amps. So regardless of the type of tankless water heater you have you ll be out of hot water in the event of a power outage. Product labels are now required to show estimated yearly energy cost and annual energy use as well as as first hour delivery fhd the amount of hot water a tank type water heater can provide in the first hour of operation or the maximum gallons per minute gpm that a tankless water heater can handle.

And when voros is away a tank style heater can simply be turned off. Generally speaking these units will consume less energy than a traditional hot water heater although how much electricity tankless water heaters use will still depend on the demand you create in your home.