Homeowners

If your water heater isn’t making the hot water you need or it is approaching its expected end of useful life at around 10 years of service, it may be time to upgrade. Unfortunately, most decisions to replace water heaters are made when they fail. The homeowner has no time to analyze options or interview contractors. As a result, decisions are often not based on good evaluation and planning, but on which installer is first available and how much money the homeowner can spare at that moment. This can lead to inefficient choices and installations.

Plan ahead and learn about the wide array of water heater types and models provided today by water heater manufacturers. Since the choices are many, you can narrow your search first by answering these simple questions.

Water heater manufacturers make a wide array of water heater types and models to meet your needs. Since the choices are many, you can narrow your search first by answering these simple questions.

1. Select the type of water heater. Learn about the different types of water heaters below to better understand how this heating equipment works to provide your home with hot water.

• Storage water heaters
• Tankless (demand or instantaneous) water heater
• Heat pump water heaters
• Indirect water heaters
• Energy Star Water Heaters

2. What type of fuel/energy source to be used?

• Natural gas
• Oil
• Propane
• Electric
• Solar
• Geothermal

3.How much hot water do you use in your home? Use our Peak Water Usage Calculator below to determine the amount of hot water used in your home. Once you’ve determined the maximum usage of hot water used in one hour during a peak usage period such as the morning, you can find a model with a First Hour Rating matching your peak demand.