Blaine here for Guardian Plumbing and Heating. Excited to bring you another Episode of the Guardian Angle. These videos are for you, our customers. They are not intended to be heavy, technical, install your own equipment tutorials, but alternatively, easy to understand tips about things that most people can do to protect their homes and increase the life of all their Plumbing and heating equipment.
Cold showers seem to be the rage these days, with benefits such as reduced stress, higher levels of alertness, better immune response, increased will power and even weight loss, people are turning the temp down in the showers to try and experience some of these positive effects. Now I’m not a doctor and I want to emphasize this is not medical advice, but even I have enjoyed what experiencing a couple of minutes in the cold shower to start my day can do! That being said, I’m not sure anyone enjoys the surprise of running out of hot water, because your teenager likes to run the shower for a ½ an hour before getting in and draining the tank.
Hot water and the luxury of showers is a fairly new concept in the grand scheme of the world. The Very First gas water heater patented was in 1868, with the most popular design in 1889 designed by Edwin Ruud. Most water heaters to this day use a very similar design and there has been very little to increase efficiencies on traditional tank style heaters. Storage style water heaters are pretty much as inefficient as the day they were designed, but they are cheap and they give us a nice storage of hot water to clean and wash with. They also need very little maintenance.
On the other hand they tend to wear out inside of 8 to 10 years in our area and with the warranty on most tanks being 6 years, its something you will need to keep in the budget. We still recommend them in most situations as being the most economical option for people.
But what about this new fangled On demand water heater we are hearing about so much lately. Well first of all the “Tankless” water heater was actually invented in 1929, so the idea has been developing for almost 100 years, I’ll be honest, I used to really dislike these units, The unit I had 15 years ago, and to say it had some early adoption issues would be putting it mildly, and it wasn’t even high efficient!
Over the past few years though On demand water heaters have improved greatly and In many situations an on demand water heater can be a great investment for customers. Let’s consider the brand Navien tankless water heaters for a second. Naviens can actually be high efficient now. They can achieve ratings of 96% efficient. They take up significantly less space, as they hang on the wall. They have a longer life than a tank due to the stainless steel heat exchanger, they only run when you need them and Navien Backs that heat exchanger with a 15 year warranty. So in the time that most people will have paid to have their tank replaced twice, these units are still going.
Another thing that the Naviens have built in, is a recirculating pump, this is a feature that has to be added onto a traditional water heater and piped in at extra costs.
Now before you go jumping to your phone and calling me. They’re are few things to consider.
- On Demand water heaters require servicing annually
- Good quality water is recommended, to make the cleaning easier and have them last longer
- The up front cost is more, but you immediately begin to save.
- If you lose power, you also lose hot water immediately as there is no storage tank.
So overall I believe that an on demand water heater can be a great option for many people, If you like the convenience of never running out of hot water, having a good solid warranty and saving money, this could be a great option for you. Just remember though, that practicing the Wim Hoff method might be necessary if you live in a place that has frequent power outages!
Here at Guardian Our top priority is building trust and integrity through lifetime partnerships that meet our customers needs. This is accomplished through a WOW experience for our customers consisting of honesty and fairness, exceptional technical knowledge, reliable, efficient products and a commitment to excellence. One of the key ways we fulfill this mission is though the Guardian Protection Plan our protection plan includes Annual Maintenance included, 20% Discount on repairs, 24 Hour Priority Service and and industry leading Lifetime Warranty on Recommended Repairs. Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with us today. We hope that this information serves you well!
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And that’s how we saw things today from the Guardian Angle!