Water heaters come in variety of sizes and technology. With a storage tank water heater you are limiting your space with a large stand alone unit that takes much of the space in your utility room. Hot water heaters are often called hot water tanks and are used to store hot water. There are several storage hot water tanks using several types of energy (such as natural gas, propane or electric) making natural gas the most inexpensive one to operate. Different technologies are used to vent the hot water heaters, called a natural vent or power vent, however it does not effect the efficiency rating on these units. A natural vent uses the existing chimney for venting the water heater. In a power vented water heater the venting is done through the wall, using an exhaust fan to move the exhaust air out of your house. The power venting advantage is that it provides homeowners with more flexibility on where they want to install the hot water heater.
Most Ottawa homeowners use electric or gas hot water heaters, however propane hot water tanks and propane tankless are also popular in the Ottawa valley areas such as Greely, Stittsville, Carp and Manotick and some areas in the city where natural gas isn’t available yet.
Although more and more homeowners in Ottawa are choosing to buy rather than rent hot water tanks (it is much cheaper in the long run to buy a hot water heater than rent) there is still a good number of residential homes where either gas and electric hot water tanks are often rented from one of the larger province wide contractors. These companies actually pay Enbridge gas a percentage of your rental to allow them to bill you through your Enbridge gas bill but they are not part of your actual gas bill.
Whether you buy a hot water heater or rent yours there are a few things you need to know.
