Homeowners are risk averse creatures. How can they not be, considering that a home is typically the largest investment they will make in their lifetime.

And while this trepidation is often a good thing because it could prevent homeowners from making choices that could negatively affect their home value, it can also prevent them from making decisions that will benefit their home. Such is the case with tankless hot water heater installation.

While there are many benefits to tankless water heater installation, including their increased life expectancy of up to 20 years over conventional water heaters, these benefits are often overshadowed by the confusion surrounding them.

In order to better assist homeowners, we have answered a few of the most commonly asked questions about tankless water heaters.

1. Is there a difference between gas and electric tankless water heater?: Yes. And that difference is the energy source used: gas or electric. This aside, there is not much difference between the two, other than the fact that the electric ones are more environmentally friendly.
2. Is there a limit to how much water a tankless system can heat?: No! In fact, this is one of the main perks of best tankless hot water heaters. While they generally will take a second to warm up, once started there is nothing to prevent them from heating water indefinitely — but whether or not you want to pay the bill for having indefinitely running water is another matter, however.
3. What is a Point-of-Use heater?: These are very limited heaters that only work for one specific plumbing fixture. For instance, if you had a bathroom with a his and hers sink and a shower, you would need a heater for each of the sinks and the shower.
4. Are tankless water heaters really better for the environment?: Yes. The main consideration here is the insane energy efficiency of these products. You can expect to see a 24 to 34% increase in energy efficiency over storage tank water heaters when you install a tankless hot water heater.

It’s a fairly well-known fact that the better you understand something, the less intimidating it becomes. By answering these questions on tankless hot water heater installation, hopefully, we have assuaged some of your anxiety.