Whether you are building a house from scratch, remodeling a home or simply trying to replace the broken water heater, knowing as much as you possibly can about residential water heaters is important. Many people are not aware that there are actually two main types of water heaters for the home. There are electric and gas water heaters.
There have been many people who have said that it is cheaper to heat the water with the gas heaters but the thing is, water heaters really do not take up that much fuel or electricity if you have the temperatures set right. You also need to make sure that you have the right size water heater for the amount of people that are in your home.
Unlike a furnace which has it’s size judged on the size of the home, it is the number of people in your family that will be the determining factor for the size of water heater you end up with. If you look at residential water heaters that are too small, you will never have enough hot water for everyone. If you are looking at ones that are too large, you will always have more than enough water but this means that you will be heating water you really do not have to. This can be wasteful.
Some people have a cause for concern regarding the gas residential water heaters. Because the heater is run off natural gas, there is always a pilot light lit. If that lit were to be blown out and the gas is still running to the water heater, you and your loved ones could be at risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. Because of these, many people feel much safer with the electric hot water heaters.
Also, whether you have an electric or a gas water heater, it is extremely important to make sure that you making sure that you never allow it to be heated when the tank is full. You must always make sure that the tank is filled completely before you can turn on the heater element. This is to make sure that the water heater does not end up destroyed or catch the house on fire.
When it comes to shopping for your water heaters, you will want to make sure that you are not allowing price to be the determining factor in the type of size of water heater that you get. You will want to shop for new residential water heaters if possible because you will have the manufacturer warranty. Since the heaters generally only run a couple hundred dollars, this should be easily done.
If you are in a tight spot financially and you need another water heater, you can always look for used residential water heaters in your free online classifieds or in your local newspaper. The thing with this though is that you can never really tell if the used water heater will last you four years or four days.