HGTV's Dave Marrs Shows Us The Benefits Of Installing A Tankless Water Heater

A water heater tank can take up a lot of space, which isn't ideal in a small or cramped room. On one episode of his show "Fixer to Fabulous," Dave Marrs found the solution to this problem to be a tankless heater. The client wanted to add a sink to her laundry room, so he suggested swapping out the chunky water heater they had in the corner for a tankless one so the sink could go in that spot.

Tankless water heaters offer several advantages over traditional tank-style water heaters. They save space, use less energy, and are more efficient overall. You can choose between electric and gas, with gas-powered tankless heaters being a bit more expensive upfront and electric units drawing in bigger utility bills. Airthereal sells electric units from $140 to $340 based on the power capacity you need. Rinnai is another popular brand in the United States that offers various sizes of gas-powered tankless heaters.

"We could probably go with a tankless... We put it up on the wall, which would get the water heater up, and then put a sink below it," said Dave Marrs (via "Fixer to Fabulous"). In terms of space-saving, tankless water heaters are more compact because they don't include a large storage tank. They can be installed on the inside or outside part of the room's wall, which saves floor space and allows you to do more with the room. In the case of this family, they could now put a utility sink in the laundry room, which is a very useful thing to have.

In the reveal, he explained where the heater went. "We went to a tankless heater that's out in the garage," he said. By installing it outside the laundry room, he also improved the look of the space because they didn't have to see those exposed pipes and connections anymore.

Dave Marrs also explained that they now have hot water on demand (via "Fixer to Fabulous"). According to the Department of Energy, these types of heaters are also called demand-type or instantaneous heaters because they only heat when needed. This makes them more efficient than traditional heaters because they hold heated water in the tank, which leads to a lot of heat loss as the water sits in the tank over time. Because they heat on demand, you can rely on them to maintain a steady supply of hot water, which means you can say goodbye to your water running cold during a shower.

To keep them efficient, tankless water heaters need to be maintained by cleaning out their filters and flushing out the mineral deposits that build up in them over time. This should be done one or more times during the year. Another way to maintain efficiency is to avoid putting too much demand on them. Tankless water heaters operate better when there are multiple to individually serve the main appliances that need hot water (for example, having one for the washing machine and another for the dishwasher).