A gas tankless water heater is becoming much more popular that your standard run of the mill tank heaters. They cost less to run, mainly because you don’t have a big water tank to have to keep heated all the time, even when not in use. There are also some major differences, the main one being there is not tank. Now a gas tankless water heater system works like this. While it doesn’t have a conventional tank, there is a coil inside the unit, which in some models can hold up to six gallons in the system. This water coil wraps around the heater exchanger, and when you turn on your hot water, the flow through the system starts.

What happens with gas tankless water heaters is when the flow starts, it trips a sensor. This sensor activates the heater, which starts heating the water. In comes cold water, out comes hot water, it’s that simple. When you are done, and the flow stops, the sensor is again activated, turning the heat off. Now there are a couple of things to note about tankless heaters. One is that unlike the old systems, you aren’t going to get instant hot water. It takes at least a gallon of water to flow through for you to notice heat. Secondly, because the water is heated differently, without a tank, while you have a supply of hot water that is about endless, they can only handle one, maybe two application at a time. This basically means that the more demand, the longer it takes for the heat rise to heat the water. This happens because the flow of water is running faster than the heating element can handle.

There are many ways to fix this problem though with a gas tankless water heater. One of them is to just cut down on the amount of applications used. Only take a shower, not both a shower and washing a load of clothes. Most people do this anyway, but it is just an example. You could also install more than one gas tankless water heater, one for each area of use. Because these units are small, and lightweight compared to the old style, you can put them almost anywhere. You can also reduce the water flow over all by switching to low flow faucets, shower heads, and aerators in other applications, like dish and clothes washers. You could attach an aerator to all of you outlets, thereby cutting down you general water consumption greatly.

Now the debate over whether an electric, or a gas tankless water heater is better. It really depends on your house hold. If you are trying to get completely off the grid, like say with a whole house solar array, then you will probably want an electrical model. The differences really are with the heat exchange and temperature rise ratings. With an electrical model, the heating element take longer to get to temperature, and stay hot. With a gas model, the heat exchanger is direct fire, so it gets hotter, faster, and stays hot longer. For people who have natural gas or propane available in their area, this can be a much more energy efficient alternative.