Water Heater Installation in Custer, SD
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Custer County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of cold, and cold water coming in
Winter nights average 15°F here from December through February, and homes in Custer County need heat from September through May. That same cold water is feeding your water heater the rest of the year too, so it has more work to do bringing it up to temperature.
When you replace it, the new tank has to meet a federal minimum efficiency, and that minimum is not one number. It is set by a formula tied to the tank's rated volume, applied separately across four draw patterns, so two tanks of the same type but different sizes face different minimums. Whatever size replaces your old one, it has to clear the standard set for that size.
- 15°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 9 months
- September through May, the months homes here need heat
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- Water pooling around the base or rust colored water from the hot tap are the clearest signs. Most tanks last a decade or so, and once one starts leaking at the tank itself rather than a fitting, it won't be repaired, only replaced. A unit that's making rumbling or popping sounds is another sign, that's sediment built up on the bottom of the tank, and it means the heater is working harder than it should. If yours is original to the house and you don't know its age, check the serial number on the manufacturer label, it usually encodes the manufacture date.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on your current tank failing. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you don't run out of hot water partway through back to back showers. It won't heat water faster or deliver it hotter, and it needs a contractor to confirm your gas line or electrical circuit can support it before installation, since tankless units draw more than a typical tank heater at the moment they fire.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that you stop storing hot water and start heating it as it flows through the unit. That means no more standby losses from a tank sitting full of hot water all day, but it also means the unit needs enough gas or electrical capacity to heat water fast, which is a bigger draw at that moment than a storage tank needs. The venting is different too, tankless units typically vent through a smaller pipe made for the higher temperature of the exhaust. A contractor will check your gas line, venting and electrical before swapping one in, since not every setup that worked for a tank will work for a tankless unit without changes.