Water Heaters – The Key to Your Comfort

It’s no fun when someone flushes the toilet and blasts you with hot water in the middle of your shower. However, it would be much worse if you were all lathered up and your water heater broke down. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would enjoy the remainder of that freezing cold shower.

We don’t usually pay attention to our water heaters; we just expect them to provide warm water when we want it. Have you ever wondered how your plumbing works?

Types of Water Heaters

Your bathroom plumbing runs in two directions: freshwater comes into your home through one set of pipes, and wastewater leaves your house through the second set of pipes.

If you look under your sink, you’ll see two different lines supplying your faucet. One pipe carries cold water directly from the fresh water supply, and the other has warm water that’s been through the water heater.

The cold and warm water only mix as they come out of the tap. There are two main types of water heaters you can install in your house: standard reservoir heaters and tankless water heaters.

Reservoir heaters usually have gas or electric heating elements at the bottom of the tank to warm the water. The significant downsides of this type of heater are that they’re large and take up a lot of space, and they have a limited capacity.

Once you use all of the warm water, you have to pause what you’re doing until the heater has time to warm another tank. Tankless heaters don’t have a reservoir, so they’re much smaller. Also, they heat water on demand, so you’ll never run out. A dozen people could shower back-to-back, and they’d all have as much hot water as they wanted.

Environmentally conscious homeowners might prefer tankless heaters over the reservoir-style. Since they take up less space, you could install multiple heaters near points of high use, like near each shower and/or the kitchen sink.

Since reservoir heaters are large, you can only install them in a spacious area and then build a system of pipes to spread water throughout your house. Sometimes you might have to let gallons of water flow down the drain while you wait for the warm water to work its way to you. With a tankless heater installed closer to the faucet, you won’t waste as much water waiting for it to get hot.

Tankless Water Heaters for Mobile Homes

Water heaters for manufactured and mobile homes are subject to special federal regulations to which other home heaters are not. The spaces for water heaters in mobile homes are often cramped, so the regulations help reduce the chance of fire.

If the water heater’s area has a low ceiling or is narrow, the home cannot accommodate a full-sized heater. The smaller the water heater is, the smaller its reservoir has to be.

Smaller reservoirs mean that you have less hot water and that you have to wait for the tank to reheat more often. Tankless water heaters are an excellent option for mobile homes because they’re space efficient, which is ideal in a smaller dwelling.

Before going to the store to purchase a tankless heater, consult with a professional. Like reservoir heaters, there are regulations for which tankless heaters you can install in a manufactured home. A professional can help you choose the correct tankless heater for your mobile home.

“Do It Yourself” Water Heater Installation?

Even if you don’t have to abide by unique federal regulations when choosing your water heater, you’re still better off consulting Locklear Plumbing than shopping at Home Depot for a water heater.

Don’t get us wrong, Home Depot is an incredible resource for a lot of home improvement projects. However, if you’re switching from a reservoir heater to a tankless, you should really have a professional assess your needs.

Pros will ensure that you get the right heater for your home, they’ll install the new heater correctly, and they’ll even come back for any needed tune-ups afterward. Do you have a funny story about a time when you ran out of hot water? Tell us about it! If something like that ever happens again, give us a call right away!