Why Should You Replace Your Water Heater?
Replacing your home water heater is one of those tasks that homeowners kind of dread. You know that a hot water heater isn’t built to last forever, and you understand that you’ll need to invest in a new one sooner or later. However, you may hope that today isn’t the day, or that this year isn’t the year. You may wish to push it off for as long as you can.
You may be doing so at your own risk, though, or at least to your own detriment. Avoiding a water heater replacement for too long may mean that you’re neglecting crucial home maintenance—and it may lead to a water heater failure that forces you to act more hurriedly than you might prefer. Additionally, there may simply be benefits to a water heater replacement that you’re not accounting for.
If nothing else, it’s worth thinking through some of the possible reasons for a water heater replacement. Among them:
A new water heater may give you greater capacity—which will effectively prolong your hot water use. Older hot water heaters, when they are not maintained very well, will fill with sediment, which can reduce the usable storage space in the tank. Additionally, an expanding family may mean that you simply need to invest in a larger storage tank—or a tankless water heater.
The idea of a tankless water heater brings up another point, which is that a newer hot water heater—especially a tankless one—will offer greater energy efficiency. You can reduce your natural gas or electricity bill by upgrading your water heater, and while it may not pay for itself, exactly, a new water heater can certainly prove advantageous.
Safety and peace of mind are also important considerations. When you have a new water heater professionally installed, you can know for sure that it conforms to all current fire safety codes, making the risk of an accident as low as possible.
For what its worth: Newer models of hot water heaters often run quieter. Plus, they just look better, if that means anything to you!
Most significantly, though, they work better—so when the time comes to invest in a new one, don’t view it as a chore or an expense. View it as an upgrade, one that will add value to your life in a number of ways—because it will!
