Water Heater Installation in Washington, PA
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Your water heater works a long season here
Winter nights in Washington County average 23°F from December through February, and homes run their heat from October through May. That's eight months where the water coming into the tank starts out cold, so the heater works harder to bring it up to temperature. A new unit sized and set up for that stretch matters more here than it would somewhere the water arrives warmer.
Power matters too. Statewide, 15% of households went at least a day without power last year, and this county has logged 10 winter storms and 263 damaging wind events over the past decade. A storage tank holds hot water through a short outage. A tankless unit needs power to fire, so if you're switching from a tank to tankless, that's worth asking your contractor about. Whatever you install, federal rules set a minimum efficiency for it, and that minimum is figured differently depending on the tank's size, so the number that applies to your household isn't the same as the one next door.
- 23°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 15%
- of Pennsylvania households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A heat pump water heater would save about $400 a year to run in Pennsylvania compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Pennsylvania home, from EIA household energy data and Pennsylvania fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- The clearest sign is age. Most tank water heaters last 10 to 15 years, and once you're past that, a failure can happen without warning. Watch for water that takes longer to heat, rust-colored water, a tank that's rusting on the outside, or puddles forming underneath it. If you're calling a plumber for the same water heater more than once a year, replacing it usually costs less over time than continuing to repair it. Winters here are cold enough that a weak water heater can give out right when you need it most, so don't wait until then if it's already showing these signs.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on whether your current tank has failed. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you get a steady supply of hot water without a tank running out mid-shower, and it takes up much less space. It also tends to last longer than a storage tank. The tradeoff is the switch itself. A tankless unit usually needs different venting and gas or electrical supply than what's already in place, so a contractor will need to look at your home to say what that involves.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that hot water is made as you use it instead of being stored ahead of time. There's no tank taking up space, and no limit on how much hot water you can use back to back, as long as you stay within the unit's flow rate. It usually means new venting, since tankless units vent differently than a tank does. The gas line or electrical circuit feeding it may also need to be upsized to handle the higher demand, and a contractor can look at your setup and tell you exactly what needs to change for your house.