The standards on residential water heater efficiency, which are required by Congress, have not been updated in 13 years. Water heating is responsible for roughly 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the DOE said.

  • @tinkeringidiot
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    81 year ago

    When it’s on. When you aren’t using it, it draws zero. I’ve had a tankless electric for 8 years, and my power usage hasn’t changed much either up or down.

      • @tinkeringidiot
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        11 year ago

        I doubt the energy savings would cover the cost difference in my case, and even if it did it’s worth a little extra to never run out of hot water.

        I’ll stick with the tankless.

        • kitonthenet
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          fedilink
          11 year ago

          its somewhere like 3x more efficient, and for environmental standards, I’m sorry but your personal preference shouldn’t really matter. 3x is 3x

          • @schroedingershat
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            21 year ago

            Storage water heaters can also capture off peak or curtailed energy (acting as 6-12kWh of diurnal storage), so they are more than 3x better in terms of emissions.