Water Heater Installation in Springfield, MO
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Greene County will get in touch.
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Your water heater works through a long cold season here
Winter nights in Greene County average 25°F from December through February, and homes here run their heat October through April, seven months a year. A water heater doesn't get a break from cold weather just because the furnace is doing the work.
Power loss is a real factor too. Statewide, 19% of Missouri households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and the county has seen 14 winter storms and 302 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One with electronic ignition will not, until the power comes back.
Whatever size tank goes in, it has to meet the federal minimum efficiency set for that size. That minimum is a formula based on the tank's rated volume, so a larger tank and a smaller one face different numbers, not the same one.
- 25°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?
- Check the age on the label first, since tanks have a working life and get more likely to fail every year past it. Water pooling at the base, rust at the seams, or water that still runs rusty after a minute all mean the tank itself is failing, not something a repair fixes. If it still makes hot water but runs out fast or rumbles low, sediment has built up at the bottom, and that gets worse over time, not better. A contractor can tell you whether what you're seeing means replace it now or whether it still has some life left.
- 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 as you use it instead of storing it, so you don't run out partway through a shower, and it isn't holding a tank of hot water around the clock when nobody's using it. The trade-off is that installing one usually means new venting and a gas or electric line sized for it, since it draws harder in short bursts than a tank does. If the power goes out, know that a gas tankless unit still needs power to run its ignition, the same as a gas tank heater with an electric igniter would. A contractor can look at the gas line, venting, and panel to say whether the switch makes sense for your house.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The gas line and venting are the biggest change, since a tankless unit burns hotter for shorter bursts and often needs a larger gas line and different venting than the tank it replaces. It mounts on the wall instead of taking up floor space, so where it goes in the house usually changes too. You won't run out of hot water partway through back to back showers, but the flow rate at any one moment is limited by the unit's size, so two showers running at once may draw more than one unit can keep up with. A contractor sizes the unit and the gas line together, since one only works right with the other.