Questions · Water heaters
What size water heater do I need?
Size it by your busiest hour, not by bedroom count. Add up what the house uses back to back on a normal morning: showers, a dishwasher, laundry. A tank has to cover that hour and then recover. A tankless unit is sized by flow instead, meaning how many fixtures run at once.
What actually decides the size
- How many showers run back to back, and how long each one is
- Whether laundry and the dishwasher run in the same stretch
- Tub size, because a soaking tub can empty a small tank on its own
- How far the heater sits from the far bathroom, because the line holds cold water too
- Gas or electric, because they recover at different speeds
Two numbers worth knowing
A tank's first hour rating is how much hot water it can deliver in one hour starting full. It matters more than the gallon number on the side, because it includes how fast the unit reheats.
A tankless unit is rated by flow at a given temperature rise. Cold ground water in winter means a bigger rise, so the same unit delivers less then than it does in August. Sizing for the winter number is how you avoid a cold surprise in January.
The most common mistake
Same type, same size. The heater gets replaced with exactly what the builder put in, even though the family grew, a tub got added, or the old unit had been running out of hot water for years. We ask about the busiest hour first, because that is the complaint nobody wants to keep after paying for a new heater.
From the job log
Work we’ve done
Answers
Is a bigger tank always better?
No. A tank that is too big keeps more water hot than the house uses, which costs more to run and gives scale more water to form from. The right size is the one that covers your busiest hour with a little room, not the largest one that fits.
Can I put a tankless unit where my tank is?
Sometimes, and sometimes it needs a bigger gas line, different venting or a new electrical supply. We check those at the house before quoting, because that is where the real difference in cost lives.
We run out of hot water every evening. Is the heater faulty?
It may be sized right and heavily scaled, or sound and simply too small. Those look identical from the shower, so it is worth testing rather than replacing blind.
If you need this done
- Water heater installOld unit out, new one sized for your household, connected, tested and left to code. Gas or electric, tank or tankless.
- Tankless water heatersSwapping a builder-grade tank for a tankless unit, indoors or out, with the gas, venting and water lines done right.
- Water heater repairNo hot water, water that runs cold early, noises or a leak? We find the real cause and give you an honest call on repair versus replacement.
- Where we workEvery town and ZIP across the Valley we cover.
In-home estimate
Rather have someone look at it? Tell us what's going on
We come out, look at the problem and explain what it needs before any work starts. For something urgent, calling is fastest.
Rather talk? Call or text (602) 833-4133.