Water Heater Installation in Kansas City, MO
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Jackson County winters put weight on a water heater
Winter nights here average 23°F from December through February, and homes run their heat from October through April, seven months of the year. That is most of the year for a water heater to be working against cold incoming water. A unit that is already struggling tends to show it first as slower recovery or water that does not quite get hot.
Jackson County has seen 10 winter storms and 212 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in Missouri, 19% of households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps working through an outage. One that depends on power for ignition does not. Whatever you install, the federal minimum efficiency it has to meet is not one number. It is a formula based on the tank's rated volume, applied separately across four draw patterns, so two tanks of different sizes can face different minimums even when they are the same type.
- 23°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 7 months
- October through April, the months homes here need heat
- 19%
- of Missouri 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 $270 a year to run in Missouri compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Missouri home, from EIA household energy data and Missouri fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- The clearest sign is water that isn't hot anymore, or runs out fast. Rust colored water, a tank that's rusting on the outside, or water pooling underneath it mean the tank itself is failing, and a leaking tank won't get better. Popping or rumbling sounds point to sediment built up on the bottom, which makes the unit work harder and wear out sooner. Most tank water heaters last a bit over a decade, so if yours is getting up there in age and starting to act up, replacing it before it fails is worth doing on your own schedule instead of during an emergency.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on your old tank failing. A tankless unit heats water only as you use it, so you get endless hot water instead of running out partway through a shower, and it only draws power or gas while it's actually heating. It costs more to install than a like for like tank, and swapping in one often means new venting and gas line work since a tankless unit has different requirements than a tank. If your home loses power for a stretch, know that most tankless units need electricity to run even if they're gas fired, so a storm outage means no hot water either way.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The unit itself is the biggest change. It mounts on a wall instead of taking up floor space, and it's a fraction of the size of a tank. Venting usually has to change too, since a tankless water heater vents differently than a tank and often needs new pipe run to the outside. Gas fired tankless units typically need a larger gas line than a tank did, because they draw more gas in the moment to heat water on demand. A contractor will look at the gas line, venting and electrical at your house to know exactly what the switch involves there.