Tankless water heaters are an amazing option for most homes. Instead of having a reserve tank of water, they work by heating the water as it passes through the unit. They are energy efficient since they only heat when in use and they have less of an affinity for collecting sediment, which tends to give them a longer life. They take up less space and some even allow you to control them from your phone. Adjusting the temperature is as simple as pressing a button too, whereas an electric water heater with a tank can be dangerous to open and adjust.

There are a few cons to consider compared to a tank though. During the winter time, when the ground water is colder, your tankless water heater has to do more work to heat water. Where you can expect up to around 11 GPM (gallons per minute) in the summertime with most 199,000 BTU units. During the wintertime however, you can expect to see that drop to about half, at 5.6 GPM. This isn’t necessarily an issue, since most fixtures such as a faucet use around 1.2 GPM and a shower uses around 2.5 GPM, so you should still be fine unless you have many fixtures running hot water at once.

There are solutions for that though. By chaining the tankless units together, the already heated water from the first unit can pass into the 2nd. This would ensure that the 2nd unit always has warmer water to work with from the start. This is generally done in larger residences or even commercial properties where there could be multiple lavatories or kitchens.