Tankless water heaters are considered among the most energy efficient water heaters available. A traditional water heater keeps water in a tank heated until it is needed. Keeping the tank heated requires energy. A tankless water heater, on the other hand, heats water on demand thus saving the consumer the cost of keeping water heated continually. And while the tankless heater may offer an endless supply of hot water where the traditional model has only a 50-gallon capacity that does not necessarily mean that the hot water will appear instantly. There are several reasons that your tankless water heater may not produce hot water quickly.
The distance between the water heater and the outlet. If your water heater is not located near the outlet you are using, especially in a large house, it may take some time for the water to travel from the water heater to the faucet or outlet. It is not unheard of for lag time between heater and faucet to be as long as three minutes.
An outlet nearer to the water heater than you calls for hot water. If another outlet is seeking hot water and is closer to the heater than you are, then it will get the hot water first. You will either have to wait until the other person is finished or until the heater senses that it needs to make more hot water.
You don’t have the faucet open enough. If you have your faucet set at a trickle, the water heater may not be triggered. You may need to open the faucet more.
Calcium buildup. It is not uncommon for tankless heaters to develop a build-up of calcium which can affect efficiency. It is recommended that you have a professional flush out your tankless heater about once every year.
If you are thinking about installing a tankless water heater or need to service the one you already have, contact the professionals at Air Assurance.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Mile Atanasov/Shutterstock”