LESLIE: Danny in Nevada finds The Money Pit on KBZZ. And you’re looking for a water heater recommendation. How can we help?
DANNY: Thanks, guys. I’m curious. I might be in the market for a new water heater. It takes about … almost like a minute to get the hot water out of my faucets.
TOM: OK.
DANNY: And is that like this telltale sign or is there any option I do to inspect it to make sure if I, you know, do need to replace it?
TOM: If you replace your water heater, it’s not going to get the water to the faucet any quicker. That’s a function of the hot water supply pipe. It takes so much time to get from the water heater itself to the faucet. Regardless of the type of water heater you have; whether it’s small, big, tank or tankless, it’s going to take the same amount of time to get that water from the heating appliance to the faucet itself. So that’s not a determination of the wear or tear on the water heater.
How old is the water heater that you have right now, Danny?
DANNY: It’s coming up on 12 years.
TOM: Well, you know, that’s at the end of a normal life cycle. Is it electric or gas?
DANNY: Gas.
TOM: Yeah, it’s the end of a normal life cycle. It would not be premature to replace that today. You might want to take a look at the tankless water heaters. They are far more efficient than the tanked water heaters. They’re more expensive but they only heat the water as you need it. They heat on-demand so you’re not basically paying to keep a tank full of water that you don’t need to heat.
LESLIE: And Danny, if you’re wondering which size water heater to get for your house, there’s a great website; it’s called ForeverHotWater.com. And on that site, you can actually find out exactly which size will work for your house and your needs. So check that out.
DANNY: Oh, wow. OK.
TOM: OK, Danny? Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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