Hot water is one of those luxuries that you never fully appreciate until you travel to places without it!
- Yes, even in the summer. 😉
🥊 The bottom line: Federal tax credits and utility rebates make the best options even more affordable.
🔬 Zoom in: Two great options are tankless natural gas and electric heat pump water heaters.
👉 Tankless natural gas hot water heaters
- The right size tankless gives you endless hot water for pennies.
- Since getting a tankless, we spend less than $40 per month on hot water — $25 of that is the monthly fees.
- In other words, we’re using less than 50 cents a day on the gas to heat our water.
👉 Heat pump hot water heaters
- They are 4x more efficient than traditional electric hot water heaters.
- Traditional electric hot water heaters use a heating element — like your toaster. (Please don’t try to heat water with a toaster. 🤪)
- Heat pump hot water heaters work more like your refrigerator, but in reverse.
- Instead of heating up the water using an element or a flame, heat pumps transfer heat from the surrounding air into the water.
- The back of a refrigerator releases warm air — the warm air it removed from inside the fridge.
- The top of a heat pump hot water heater emits cooler air — the air that was displaced by the warmer air.
🧐 Things to consider
- Tankless hot water heaters need the right size gas line and an older home might not have a big enough line — check with a plumber.
- Like all gas appliances, proper venting to the outside is critical.
- Some tankless gas water heaters are eligible for a federal tax credit — 30% of the project cost, up to $600
- Heat pump hot water heaters need a little more space than traditional electric.
- Heat pump hot water heaters are eligible for an Oncor rebate ($500) and a federal tax credit — 30% of the project cost, up to $2000.
✅ For your Smart Homeowner list
- Whenever you’re replacing mechanicals (HVAC an water heating) or appliances, look beyond the initial cost and account for the operating cost.
Best,
Travis