Water Heater Installation in Herndon, VA
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What a Herndon winter asks of a water heater
Winter nights here average 28°F from December through February, and the heat runs October through April, seven months a year. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One with electric ignition will not light until power is back.
That matters here. Virginia saw 22% of households lose power for at least 24 hours in 2024, and the county has logged 387 damaging wind events and 10 winter storms over the past ten years. Federal rules set a minimum efficiency for storage tank water heaters too, based on the tank's rated volume, so the number that applies depends on the size of the one going in.
- 28°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 7 months
- October through April, the months homes here need heat
- 22%
- of Virginia 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 $350 a year to run in Virginia compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Virginia home, from EIA household energy data and Virginia 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 have a working life span, and once yours is old and starting to act up, a repair just delays the inevitable. Watch for rusty water coming from the hot tap, a tank that's damp or rusted at the base, or water that never gets quite as hot as it used to. If the unit is older and starts making popping or rumbling noises, that's sediment built up on the bottom of the tank, and it means the heater is working harder than it should. Any water pooling around the tank itself, not the pipes, means it's time to replace it before it fails outright.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on your old tank failing. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you get a steady supply of hot water without a tank losing heat all day. Households that run out of hot water often, or that want to free up the floor space a tank takes up, tend to be happiest with the switch. It's not automatically cheaper to run, and it's not the right call for every house. A contractor can look at your water usage and your gas or electric setup and tell you whether it fits your home.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that hot water no longer runs out. A tank holds a fixed amount and once it's used up you wait for it to reheat. A tankless unit heats water as it flows through, so as long as the flow rate is within what the unit can handle, hot water keeps coming. That means the venting is different too, since tankless units often need different pipe and clearances than a tank did. Gas tankless units also need enough gas supply to fire at a higher rate than most tanks do, so the gas line sometimes needs to be checked or upsized. A contractor will look at the existing gas line, venting, and water flow before installing one to make sure the new unit matches what the home can supply.