Water Heater Installation in Reno, NV
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What Reno winters ask of a water heater
Winter nights here average 23°F from December through February, and homes across Washoe County need heat about eight months of the year, October through May. That's a long stretch of cold weather leaning on a tank that has to bring water up to temperature every day of it.
Power doesn't always hold up through that season. Nevada saw 13% of households go at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and the last ten years brought 232 winter storms and 343 damaging wind events to the region. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One with electronic ignition won't light until the power is back. That's worth weighing when you choose a fuel type or ignition system.
New storage water heaters also have to meet a federal efficiency minimum. It isn't one number. It's a formula based on the tank's rated volume, applied separately across four draw patterns, so two tanks of different sizes can face different minimums even when they're the same type.
- 23°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 13%
- of Nevada 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 $370 a year to run in Nevada compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Nevada home, from EIA household energy data and Nevada fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- The clearest sign is water that comes out rusty or with a metallic smell, since that means the tank itself is corroding from the inside. Water pooling at the base of the tank is another, and that means it has started to leak and won't stop. Age matters too. If yours is old and starting to act up, it's worth having a contractor look at it before it fails outright. A tank that fails while you're away can flood the space around it, and with 13% of Nevada households losing power for 24 hours or more last year, a heater that's already struggling is more likely to leave you without hot water when the power goes out too.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want from your hot water and what your home can support. A tankless unit heats water only when you open a tap, so you don't run out during a long shower or back to back loads of laundry the way you can with a tank. It also takes up less space and tends to last longer than a storage tank. But it usually needs a gas line and venting sized for it, so switching from a tank is more involved than swapping one unit for another, and a contractor needs to check what your home already has before you decide.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is the gas and venting. A tankless unit draws more gas at once than a storage tank does, so the gas line often needs to be resized, and the venting has to be run to match what the manufacturer specifies for that unit. Some homes also need an upgraded electrical outlet nearby for the unit's controls. None of this is a sign anything is wrong with your house. It's just what a tankless unit requires that a tank never did, and a contractor will check your gas line, venting and electrical before the installation to confirm what needs to change.