Inside Electric Tankless Water Heaters

Electric tankless water heaters are the next generation water heaters. Such models represent the future of this technology, as there is always room for improvement. There are several key advantages that have turned electric water heaters into such a popular choice for residences. Electric tankless water heaters provide hot water without using a storage tank, using electricity for heating up the water to the desired temperature. Cold water travels through a pipe into the unit, and either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water. Tankless water heaters can be used either as main sources of hot water or as supplementary units placed at the point of use or can replace conventional tank water heaters.

The main reason why electric tankless water heaters are such a good choice in economical aspect is that, unlike traditional models, the tankless ones only consume energy during the actual use of hot water. Conventional models are the second largest consumer of energy in every American home, because they work non-stop, maintaining the high temperature of the water that's in their tanks. Because of that, they consume much more energy and at the end, what you get is a limited amount of water (only what's contained in the tank) at a high price. Exactly the opposite happens with electric tankless water heaters. With them, you get unlimited amount of hot water, since their is no need for a tank, and the price of electricity is also low. By eliminating the stand-by losses, the efficiency is greatly improved.

The heating device on electric water heaters is activated only when water goes through it, or in other words, only when there is consumption. Once activated, the heater provides a constant supply of hot water. In this case, the maximum flow rate at a desired temperature will be determined by the capacity of the heater. A slight drawback here is that electric tankless water heaters have smaller capacities than the gas powered models.

To run an electric tankless water heater, you will have to hardwire it to your circuit breaker/electrical panel. Although, electric tankless water heaters are less expensive to purchase and operate, as mentioned, they have less capacity, which makes them less suitable for large families or households that consume large amounts of hot water at one time. Hence, getting an idea of how much hot water you need at one time is a very important aspect when buying an electric tankless water heater.