Water Heater Installation in Madison, WI
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What a Dane County winter asks of your water heater
Groundwater coming into the house is already cold before your water heater does anything with it, and from December through February nights here average 14°F. The tank has to work harder to make up that difference, night after night, for eight months of the year.
Power is part of it too. Wisconsin saw 18% of households go at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and the county has logged 22 winter storms and 128 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage like that. One that depends on electricity to fire does not, and that is worth knowing before you pick a replacement. Whatever you install has to clear the federal minimum efficiency for its size and draw pattern, since that minimum is set separately for each one.
- 14°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 18%
- of Wisconsin 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 $330 a year to run in Wisconsin compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Wisconsin home, from EIA household energy data and Wisconsin fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- The clearest sign is age. Once a tank water heater gets old, the tank itself has likely started to weaken from the inside, even if it still heats water fine today. Rust-colored water, a tank that's damp or wet around the base, or water that never gets quite as hot as it used to are all signs the tank is failing rather than something you can adjust your way out of. If you're relighting the pilot or resetting the unit more than once every few months, that's also worth a contractor's look, since it usually points to a part wearing out rather than a one-time glitch. A leaking tank won't wait for a convenient time, so once you see water where it shouldn't be, it's worth having someone look at it soon.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on whether your current tank is failing. A tankless unit heats water only as you use it, so you don't pay to keep a tank of water hot all day, and you won't run out of hot water partway through a shower the way you can with a tank. The tradeoff is that a tankless unit needs a strong enough gas line or electrical circuit to heat water on demand, which your current setup may or may not have. A contractor can tell you what your home would need to make the switch, and that's really the deciding question, not the water heater itself.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The biggest change is what's connected to it. A tankless unit needs a larger gas line than most tank water heaters use, or in some cases a dedicated electrical circuit, because it has to heat water fast rather than keep a tank warm over time. It also needs venting sized and routed for that unit specifically, which is often different from what your old tank used. None of this means the switch isn't worth it, but it does mean the installation is more involved than swapping one tank for another, and a contractor will need to check your gas line, electrical panel and venting before the job starts, not after.