How to Choose a Water Heater
Taking a cold shower isn’t always healthy, especially when your eyes and body are tired or you’ve just recovered from a fever. You need some rest and a bit of heat to feel healthy and refreshed at home.
Whether it’s your first time buying a water heater or replacing your existing one, choosing one can be hard at first because there is a slew of heaters out there that vary in operation and features.
For this reason, we will be tackling the essentials of choosing a water heater in this guide. This will enable you to find the right water heater for your home to use.
Without further ado, let’s start!
Things to Consider Before Buying a Water Heater
To pick the right water heater for your house, you have to consider the following things:
1) Heater Type
Heaters in Malaysia come in two types: tank and on-demand types. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
- Tank Heaters
A tank-type water heater is very common in Malaysian homes. It is a quick and effective heater and is known for its durable steel tank and excellent resistance to chemical corrosion.
Compared to on-demand models, tank heaters are a bit easier to upkeep and cost less so a lot of homeowners choose this form of heating.
However, it heats all the water it has at the same time. Because you’d only get to use some of the water, this can translate to higher water bills by the end of the month.
- On-Demand Heaters
Using a newer form of technology than tank heaters, on-demand heaters a.k.a. tankless heaters only heat the water that’s needed. These have been around now for over a decade or so.
The great thing about it is it allows you to conserve your water use and get considerably more savings in the long run. If you care about the environment, this type of heater is a fantastic option.
Aside from that, its rectangle design doesn’t take up much space in your home too. Therefore, smaller homes will also benefit from using on-demand heaters.
2) Durability
Durability-wise, tank heaters are better than on-demand heaters. Tank heaters can last up to a decade or more relative to the tankless models, which last only about 4 to 7 years on average.
But, here’s an interesting twist: Home Inspection Insider claims that newer on-demand heaters are more long-lasting and can last a whopping twenty to even thirty years with proper maintenance!
As to the material, tank models are made of steel both inside and outside. They also have a glass or plastic component inside that prevent them from rusting.
However, there’s a safety issue with tank types as the tank may explode if it overheats. This has the potential to badly injure or kill the occupants at home, as well as damage the property.
Whereas, tankless units can be made of plastic, glass, or metal. Likewise, they are built to withstand great water pressure.
Besides the material, several more factors come into play that will affect the heater’s longevity. Among them are the location, water quality, installation quality, and maintenance frequency.
Considering all these, we think you should go for the tankless water heater if you’d want to feel altogether safer in the house and reduce your water consumption.
3) Features
Water heaters come with various features that would make using them very convenient. Here are the most important ones you should have:
- Instant Hot Water Supply – The water heater should produce hot water in a few seconds and not a minute or more than, because then you’d have used up a lot of water.
- Temperature Settings – This is a great feature that allows you to set the temperature of the water heater to your desired level. But, this would depend on the gas line your house has.
- Long-Term Warranty – Your water heater should have a warranty of at least six years for the tank and parts. And the labour warranty should be a year from the time you have your heater installed.
4) Cost
Finally, you’ve got to mind the cost of buying and installing your water heater. The kind of heater you get should be suitable for the size of your house and the size of your family.
Water heaters, in general, sell between RM300 to upwards of RM2,000 in stores. This is exclusive of installation costs so you have to add some allowance for that.