Water Heater Installation in Lake Havasu City, AZ
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What a new water heater has to handle here
Power isn't guaranteed here. Across Arizona, 7% of households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and the region has logged 149 damaging wind events and 12 winter storms over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One with electronic ignition won't, and neither will an electric tank. Worth thinking about before you pick a replacement.
Whatever you install has to clear the federal minimum efficiency for its size. That minimum isn't one number. It's set by a formula tied to the tank's rated volume, applied differently depending on how the household draws hot water, so two tanks of the same type at different sizes can face different minimums.
- 35°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 6 months
- November through April, the months homes here need heat
- 7%
- of Arizona 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 $250 a year to run in Arizona compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Arizona home, from EIA household energy data and Arizona 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 wear out from the inside as they get older, and past a certain point the tank itself starts to fail rather than just needing a small fix. Rust-colored water, a tank that's damp or wet around the base, or water that never gets quite as hot as it used to are all signs of that. If a contractor tells you the tank is leaking, that means replacement, since a leaking tank can't be patched.
- 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 as it flows through rather than storing it, so you don't run out of hot water partway through a shower or a load of dishes. Switching means a contractor has to check your gas line size or electrical circuit, since tankless units draw more power at once than a tank does. Venting requirements are different too, so this isn't a straight swap, it's a change to how the system is set up.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that hot water gets made on demand instead of stored ahead of time. That means no standby tank losing heat while it waits to be used, but it also means the unit needs enough gas flow or electrical capacity to heat water fast when you turn on a tap. Venting is different from a tank system, so the contractor will need to run new venting sized for the tankless unit. Space changes too, since a tankless unit mounts on a wall rather than sitting on the floor, which frees up room where the old tank used to be.