Water Heater Installation in Winston-Salem, NC
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A water heater here works through a long, cold winter
Winston-Salem homes need heat from October through April, seven months of the year, and a water heater works harder through all of it as incoming water runs colder. Winter nights averaging 30°F mean the tank is recovering from a bigger temperature swing every time someone runs a shower or starts the dishwasher.
Forsyth County has seen 12 winter storms and 174 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a quarter of North Carolina households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep making hot water through an outage that knocks out electric ones. New units also have to meet a federal efficiency minimum, and that minimum is set by the tank's size and how the household draws hot water, so the right minimum for one home is not the same as for another.
- 30°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 7 months
- October through April, the months homes here need heat
- 25%
- of North Carolina 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 $300 a year to run in North Carolina compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical North Carolina home, from EIA household energy data and North Carolina 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 12 years, and once you're past that mark, a repair is often just delaying the next one. Water pooling at the base usually means the tank itself is failing, and that's not something a contractor can patch. Other signs to watch for are water that never gets fully hot, rumbling or popping sounds from sediment buildup, and rusty water coming from the hot tap. If your unit is older and showing any of these, it makes sense to have a contractor look at it before it fails outright, since a tank that lets go can flood the area around it.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on whether your current tank is failing. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you don't run out of hot water during a long shower or back to back loads of laundry. It also takes up less space than a tank. The tradeoff is that tankless units often need different gas or electrical supply than what's already run to your current water heater, so switching is a bigger job than a straight replacement. A contractor can tell you what your home's existing lines can support before you decide.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that hot water gets heated as you use it instead of sitting ready in a tank. That means no more running out partway through a shower, but it also means the unit has to be sized correctly for how much hot water your household pulls at once. Installing one usually means new venting, since tankless units vent differently than tank models, and often means upgrading the gas line or electrical circuit feeding it. Because of that, a tankless install takes more planning than swapping one tank for another, and a contractor will need to check your home's gas and electrical setup before installing one.