Water Heater Installation in Durango, CO
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A water heater here works most of the year
Winter nights average 16°F from December through February, and homes in La Plata County need heat from September through June. Ten months of the year, your water heater is warming up cold groundwater on top of everything else it does. That is a long stretch of hard work for one tank.
Power loss is part of planning here too. Colorado saw 13% of households lose power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and this county has logged 128 winter storms and 30 damaging wind events over the last ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep making hot water through an outage. One with electronic ignition will not light until the power is back.
Federal efficiency minimums for storage water heaters are not one number. They are set by a formula based on the tank's rated volume, and that formula is applied differently across four draw patterns. Two tanks of the same type in different sizes can face different minimums, so the right size for your household is part of meeting the standard, not separate from it.
- 16°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 10 months
- September through June, the months homes here need heat
- 13%
- of Colorado 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 Colorado compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Colorado home, from EIA household energy data and Colorado fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- Age is the first thing to check. If yours has been in service a long time and is starting to act up, replacing it before it fails is the safer move. Look for rust-colored water, a tank that's damp or rusted at the base, or a pilot or heating element that's grown unreliable. A water heater that's still working but takes longer to recover than it used to is also wearing out. If yours is old and you're heading into winter nights near 16°F, waiting for a full failure means waiting without hot water while a contractor works you in.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not whether one is better than the other in every home. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you don't run out during a long shower, and it takes up less space than a tank. It also needs a gas line and venting sized for it, so switching from a tank is a real install, not a swap. If your home loses power sometimes, know that most tankless units need electricity to run their ignition and controls, same as a standard gas tank needs power for its own controls. A contractor can look at your gas line, venting, and hot water use and tell you if it's a good fit.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is what's on the wall. A tankless unit mounts flat and takes up a fraction of the floor space a tank does, which matters if it's going in a closet or utility room. It usually needs a larger gas line than the tank it's replacing, because it has to heat water fast rather than gradually, and it needs venting rated for that higher demand. The water heater no longer holds a reserve, so hot water comes on demand instead of running out partway through a long shower. Any of these can require rework beyond just setting the new unit in place, so a contractor should look at the gas line and venting before quoting the job.