Water Heater Installation in Broken Arrow, OK
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What a Broken Arrow winter asks of a new water heater
Winter nights here average 30°F from December through February, and a water heater has to pull cold groundwater up to temperature through all of that. It's working alongside the furnace for months at a stretch, not just on the coldest days.
The area also sees its share of rough weather. Ten years of records show 8 winter storms and 84 damaging wind events, and a quarter of Oklahoma households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep making hot water through an outage like that. An electric one won't fire back up until the power does. Whatever goes in also has to clear a federal efficiency minimum, and that minimum isn't one flat number. It's set by a formula based on the tank's rated volume, applied separately across four different draw patterns, so two tanks of different sizes can face different minimums even though they're the same type. Whoever installs yours should be able to tell you what minimum your unit has to meet and show that it does.
- 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 Oklahoma 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 $320 a year to run in Oklahoma compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Oklahoma home, from EIA household energy data and Oklahoma fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- Age and how it's failing are the two things to look at. Most tank water heaters last about 10 years, and once one gets past that, a leak, rusty water, or a pilot that won't stay lit usually means it's done rather than worth fixing. A tank that's actually leaking from the tank itself, not a fitting, needs to be replaced right away, since that tank will only get worse and can flood the area around it. If it's still under 10 years old and the problem is a part like a thermocouple or heating element, a contractor can often repair it instead.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want from it, not on whether tankless is simply better. A tankless unit heats water only when you call for it, so you don't pay to keep a tank of water hot all day, and you don't run out of hot water during a long shower or back to back loads of laundry. Against that, a tankless unit usually needs its own gas line sizing or electrical circuit checked, and it needs a vent that's different from a tank's. Winters here run cold enough, down around 30°F on winter nights, that the water coming into the house is colder too, which means a tankless unit has to work harder to hit the same output temperature. A contractor can look at your gas line, vent path, and how much hot water your house actually uses before you decide.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The space it needs and what it connects to both change. A tankless unit mounts on a wall instead of sitting on the floor, so the old tank's footprint opens up, but the new unit needs its own vent run to the outside, sized for that model. Gas fired tankless units often need a larger gas line than the tank they're replacing, because they draw more gas for the short time they're heating water. Electric tankless units draw enough power that the electrical circuit feeding them sometimes needs to be upgraded too. A contractor checking your gas line, vent path, and electrical panel ahead of time is how they figure out what your house needs.