Consider Switching to a Tankless Water Heater for Your Building

Water heating is essential to comfort and sanitation in any commercial building. In total, however, water heating can consume a significant portion of a monthly operating budget. An effective way to reduce your water heating expenses while still providing plenty of water for essential tasks is by switching to a tankless water heater. The following information will help you understand how tankless models work and how they can benefit you.

Traditional Water Heating

The traditional method of water heating, in both residential and commercial settings, involves heating water using a fuel-based or electric water heater. Once the water is hot enough, it is stored in a tank until it is needed. As hot water is used, or as water in the storage tank cools, more water is heated to maintain a consistent supply.

The disadvantages to the traditional method of supplying hot water are distinct.

• There is only a finite amount of hot water available at any given time, limited by the capacity of the storage tank.
• If the storage tank goes dry, it will take time to heat more water to replace what’s been used.
• If water in a storage tank cools too much, it will have to be heated again. This not only wastes the energy and money that was paid to heat the water in the first place, it also increases your costs by requiring more energy to reheat the water.

Tankless Water Heaters

In contrast, a tankless water heater provides a more convenient, more economical, and more energy-conscious way to provide for the hot water needs of your building.

Tankless water heaters are also known as instantaneous or demand water heaters. They produce hot water whenever required rather than heating water and storing it in a tank.

A tankless water heater uses an electrical heating element or gas-fired burners to quickly produce hot water when there is demand for it. The water is heated and delivered to the faucet or other fixture exactly as hot water from a storage model would be. In larger commercial buildings, the main water heater is likely to be installed in a central location that serves the entire building. Smaller electric booster units can be installed closer to the point of water delivery in locations that are farther away from the central heater.

Tankless models must be sized properly to ensure they will have enough functional capacity provide enough hot water for your building’s needs. Sizing should be done by your plumbing professional.

The rate of water flow through a tankless water heater can be somewhat less than that of a storage-tank model. However, most tankless systems can easily provide 2 to 5 gallons of hot water per minute. High demand can be met by installing more than one tankless system.

Benefits of Tankless Water Heaters

Tankless water heaters provide numerous advantages to you as a building owner or manager and to your tenants.

• With a tankless water heater, there is a constant supply of hot water available. There are no worries about using all the hot water in a tank and waiting for more water to be heated.
• Tankless water heaters are highly efficient. Fuel to create hot water is used only when there is a demand for water, reducing waste and decreasing your energy expenses.
• Tankless heating systems are smaller than tank-based models, so they take up less space than traditional heaters.
• Tankless water heaters are easier to maintain than traditional storage models. In many cases, individual components can be replaced when needed, extending the life of the heater and preventing expensive replacement of the entire system.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about Plumbing, HVACR, Fire Protection, and Alarm Systems in Mechanical, Commercial, and Residential settings. For more information on the benefits of a tankless water heater and how one can benefit your building, and to view projects we’ve worked on, visit our website!

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