Water Heater Installation in Lewiston, ME
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Nine months of heating puts a real load on your water heater
Winter nights average 13°F here from December through February, and homes in Androscoggin County need heat from September through May. That is nine months of a water heater working alongside a furnace or boiler that never really shuts down, both drawing on the same electrical panel and, in a lot of homes, the same utility room.
Power loss is the other thing worth planning for. More than half of Maine households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and the county has seen 45 winter storms and 47 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One that relies on an electric igniter will not light until power is back. Either way, it is worth knowing which one you have and what it means for a cold morning with the lights out.
New tanks also have to meet a federal efficiency minimum, and that minimum is not one number. It is set by a formula based on the tank's rated volume, and it is applied differently across four draw patterns, so two tanks of the same type but different sizes can face different minimums. A contractor sizing a replacement for your household will account for that.
- 13°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 9 months
- September through May, the months homes here need heat
- 54%
- of Maine 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
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- The clearest sign is water around the base of the tank, since a storage tank that's leaking is failing from the inside and won't stop. Rusty water from the hot tap, a tank that's over ten years old, or hot water that runs out faster than it used to are the other signs worth acting on. A tank making rumbling or popping noises is often dealing with sediment buildup at the bottom, which makes it work harder and fail sooner. If you're seeing more than one of these, a contractor can tell you whether it's worth repairing or time to replace it.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on your water heater being old or new. A tankless unit heats water only as you use it, so you don't run out during a long shower or back to back loads of laundry, and it takes up far less space than a tank. It also means no standing tank to leak or flood a floor. Against that, a tankless system usually costs more up front and may need changes to your gas line or venting to install. A contractor can look at your home and tell you what installing one would actually involve.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is that hot water is made on demand instead of stored, so there's no tank sitting full of hot water waiting to be used. That usually means new venting, since tankless units vent differently than a tank does, and it can mean a larger gas line if the unit needs more gas flow than your old tank did to heat water quickly enough. The unit itself mounts on a wall instead of sitting on the floor, which frees up the space the old tank used. A contractor evaluating your home can tell you exactly what needs to change for your setup.