Category: Water Heaters

Is a Heat Pump Water Heater Enough for Winter?

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We often recommend that our customers look into different options when it comes to a new water heater. The standard gas-powered or electric storage tank water heater isn’t the only choice anymore. Tankless water heaters offer advantages like unlimited hot water and high energy efficiency. And for homes that use electricity, going with a heat pump water heater is a money-saving alternative to the conventional electric water heater.

The Heat Pump Winter Dilemma

Heat pumps in general—not just water heater types, but the ones used for home comfort—come with a bit of a caveat that can worry people about whether they’ll work well enough for their needs. A heat pump operates through a process of heat transfer: it uses the circulation of refrigerant to move heat from one place to release it in another. In a heat pump water heater, the system leeches heat from the air around where the water heater is installed and moves it into the tank.

But since water heaters are usually installed in unheated parts of a house, such as a basement, where does the heat pump actually get heat when the temperature drops?

Although there is some scientific truth to this concern, in a practical application a heat pump water heater encounters no problems at operating during cold weather. There is always some heat in the air for the heat pump to access, no matter how cold it gets. Indoor comfort heat pumps can handle sub-freezing temperatures so a heat pump water heater will have no issue at all with a slightly cool basement or garage! The water heater will work all through the winter at the same energy efficiency you’re accustomed from it.

If you think that installing a heat pump water heater for your home in Silver Spring, MD or elsewhere in Montgomery County is a good idea, contact our water heater specialists and they’ll provide you with all the assistance you need.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice.

A Way to Save Energy with Your Water Heater in Winter

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During the winter, many HVAC companies offer lists of ways that homeowners can save money through the cold weather. You might not think that you would be able to get similar sort of advice from a plumbing company, but when it comes to your water heater, there are ways you can cut down on your bill. After all, the water heater accounts for 18% of all energy used in a house—by far the most of any single appliance.

Adjusting the Water Heater for Winter

There is a simple step that you can take with a water heater that will mean significant savings over the coming months. Find the control panel for the water heater (which is called the aquastat) and turn down the temperature setting. The standard setting during the year and the default for most water heaters is 140°F. Lower it to 120°F, which is usually marked as the “warm” setting. This will help reduce heating bills during the winter, and it won’t have an appreciable effect on comfort—in fact, it can even help prevent accidental scalding. Return the water heater to its standard temperature setting when spring comes around again.

You May Need to Repair or Replace Your Water Heater

In some cases, you may need to take more drastic steps with your water heater other than just lowering its operating temperature. If the water heater has shown any signs over summer or fall that it’s malfunctioning, arrange for repairs as soon as you can with professionals. And if your water heater is more than 15 years old, it’s time to put in a new one. We strongly recommend installing a tankless water heater, which will make a tremendous improvement in your energy costs.

If you need help with your water heater, or you have any plumbing needs this winter, just call on Mallick Plumbing & Heating. We serve Chevy Chase, MD, and the surrounding areas.

Possible Problems You Might Run into with a Tankless Water Heater

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Do you have a tankless water heater in your home? Then you probably can’t imagine having to go back to the older style of water heater, thanks to all these fantastic advantages of a tankless system:

  • Unlimited hot water supply—the system is always ready to heat more
  • Lower energy bills
  • Compact size—80% smaller than tank water heaters—giving you more room
  • Reduced number of repair needs

But we’d like to focus on that last point. Your tankless water heater might run into malfunctions far less often than a storage tank system, but you can’t avoid all malfunctions. Below are some troubles that you may run into with your tankless water heater in the future—and what you can do about them.

The water isn’t getting hot enough

You turn on a tap and receive lukewarm water. You wait for it to get hotter, but it doesn’t. This lower temperature water may be a result of multiple taps being turned on at the same time. This is one of the few drawbacks of going tankless: the system can become overtaxed if there is too much demand placed on it from multiple taps and appliances simultaneously. If this problem happens often, you might consider installing a second tankless system. Many larger houses use more than one tankless water heater.

The water is getting too hot

Okay, what about the opposite problem? You certainly don’t want scalding hot water coming from your showerhead! If this happens, check the settings on the water heater; it’s possible they’ve been set too high. But this can also occur because the temperature sensor has broken. You’ll need to call water heater repair technicians to remedy this.

There’s no hot water at all

As soon as you discover no hot water at all coming from the taps, check on the power source for the water heater. The gas valve may be shut off. A circuit breaker could’ve tripped—and gas water heater does use electricity in order to operate. If you can’t trace the source, call for professional repairs right away; don’t make any attempt to repair the system yourself.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice in Bethesda, MD, and the surrounding areas. Contact us for tankless water heater services.

How to “Go Green” with a Water Heater Installation

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There are a variety of ways to make your house more environmentally friendly. You may not have thought a new water heater installation is one of them. But when you consider how much power goes into running your home’s water heater, you’ll begin to see that putting in the right type of unit can make a significant difference. Below are three ways that you can “go green” when it’s time for a new water heater:

Install a Higher Efficiency Tank Water Heater

Let’s say that you don’t want to make a dramatic change in the kind of water heater your home uses: you’d prefer to stick to the tried-n-true storage tank type. If this is the case, make sure that any new installation is an ENERGY STAR-certified model. These units use around 10% less energy than standard water heaters and can save four-person household hundreds of dollars over its service life. When it comes to green power, if every home used an ENERGY STAR water heater, it would remove about 10 billion pounds of greenhouse gas annually—the equivalent of 900 thousand cars!

Install a Tankless Water Heater

A tankless water heater doesn’t need to run as often as a storage tank model, and this makes it, even more, energy efficient. Not only will you help the environment and your energy bills with a tankless model, but you’ll also have limitless hot water.

Install a Heat Pump Water Heater

If your home doesn’t have access to natural gas, one of the best options for an energy efficient water heater is a heat pump model. These types of water heaters consume far less electricity than a standard electric water heater, which helps in cutting down on dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. Heat pump water heaters also produce few harmful emissions.

Find out more about going green with a new water heater installation: call on Mallick Plumbing & Heating! We service Rockville, MD, and the surrounding areas.

4 Warning Signs You Need Repairs for Your Water Heater

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A water heater is an appliance for all seasons. Even in the midst of a summer heat wave, you still need to have the water heater working away steadily to provide your house with heated water.

However, winter is probably when you’ll be giving your water heater the most consideration, and during the fall it’s wise to keep a sharp lookout for any indications that the water heater is suffering from malfunctions. Even a small issue with a water heater can rapidly balloon into a complete system shutdown—and that’s most likely to happen on one of the coldest days of the winter! Below we’ve listed a few of the early indications that your water heater is running into trouble that’ll require professional repairs before the situation worsens.

ONE: Rumbling from the Tank

Don’t panic about the tank bursting: this is highly uncommon. But you should be concerned about the tank overheating, which can lead to leaks and other damage. This rumbling may also mean that cold water is mixing near the top of the tank with the hot water, possibly from a broken dip tube, which is a common malfunction.

TWO: Discoloration in the Hot Water

A reddish tint to the hot water can point to a number of issues, such as breaks in the hot water lines to excessive sediment in the tank that will require professionals flush it.

THREE: Water around the Base of the System

You shouldn’t see any water pooling around the tank of your water heater. This means leaks are occurring somewhere, and you must have professionals on the job right away to find and seal them.

FOUR: Decline in Hot Water Volume

Are you not getting as much hot water as you used to? This could be an issue with the burners, the heat exchanger, or the sediment build-up on the bottom of the tank.

As soon as you detect any of these warning signs, call on our water heater repair experts. We are here 24 hours a day to provide help when you need it.

Mallick Plumbing & Heating is the Service Contractor of Choice for Gaithersburg, MD.

Time to Schedule Water Heater Maintenance!

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Do you arrange for maintenance for your home’s heating system every fall? If you don’t, you should, since this is the best way to plan ahead for the winter and ensure that your family will have warmth whenever it needs it and that the heater will operate at an energy-saving level.

But did you know that your home’s water heater also requires maintenance every year? Whenever fall arrives and you start thinking about planning for the coming winter, it’s the right time to also plan maintenance for your water heater.

Why Water Heaters Require Annual Inspections and Tune-Ups

It’s easy for people to take the hot water that flows from their taps and showerheads for granted and just assume that the hot water heater will always work when needed. But water heaters undergo a great deal of work stress during a year. The presence of water also causes them to rapidly wear down unless they have regular service from professionals.

Here’s what might happen if a water heater goes without maintenance:

  • Corrosion: This is a water heater’s #1 enemy. Although water heaters are designed to resist corrosion and rust for as long as possible, one that misses maintenance will be at a high risk of corroding when the anode rod fails. During routine maintenance, a technician will replace the anode rod if necessary.
  • Overheating and high pressure: Sediment that builds up inside the tank of a water heater will cause the tank to overheat and spike the water pressure inside. Technicians will flush the tank as part of maintenance if there is too much sediment.
  • Wasteful performance: Any type of water heater will gradually become more expensive to run if it doesn’t receive regular care. In only a few years, you could pay from 25% to 40% more to run the water heater than you should.
  • Leaks: Checking for leaks and fixing them is one of the basic steps of regular maintenance.

If you’re ready to have your water heater properly maintained for the year, call on Mallick Plumbing & Heating. We’re the service contractor of choice in Silver Spring, MD.