A new water heater is needed in your home - is it time for a change? time to ditch the tank and go for a different type of water heater? Or are you better off with one of the new tanks?? When you first look at the issue there seem to be way too many variables. So how exactly do you compare hot water heaters?
To start with there are two main types - water heating tanks and tankless hot water heaters. The difference is obvious - one has a tank and the other does not. This means that the tankless units are significantly more compact since they do not need to store water. So the first question is - does space matter to you?
Okay, the next difference between a tankless hot water heater and the tanked variety is efficiency. With a tank you are effectively paying for a whole tank of water to be heated all the time, which does not sound all that efficient does it? Tankless units just heat what you need. But wait. Modern tanks can be really very efficient - they are well insulated and the wastage from keeping all that water on standby is not so great.
Yet another difference that might help you make up your mind is the cost. Instant hot water heaters call for a pretty large initial outlay. Sure, this is somewhat offset by the fact that they generally last longer than tanks and they are cheaper to run, but you may find that the initial outlay really is not justifiable at the moment.
There are other differences of course, but these three should hopefully get the ball rolling!