Water Heater Installation in Denton, TX
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Denton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
What Denton County winters and storms mean for your water heater
Denton County only needs heat five months a year, November through March, with winter nights averaging 36°F. That is not the kind of cold that freezes pipes on its own, but it is enough that a water heater sitting in a garage or unheated space works harder through those months than the rest of the year.
The bigger risk here is the power. Texas saw a third of households lose power for at least 24 hours in 2024, and this county has logged 20 winter storms and 115 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps working through an outage. One with electronic ignition or an electric tank does not come back on until the power does, though most will restart on their own once it's restored. Whichever type goes in, it has to meet the federal minimum efficiency for its size and draw pattern, which is set separately for each tank volume rather than as one flat number.
- 36°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 5 months
- November through March, the months homes here need heat
- 33%
- of Texas 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 $290 a year to run in Texas compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical Texas home, from EIA household energy data and Texas fuel prices. Your home will differ.
- How do I know it's time to replace my water heater?
- Age is the first thing to check, since a tank that's old enough is often past the point where repair makes sense. Look for water pooling around the base, since that usually means the tank itself has failed, not a part inside it. Rusty water, a tank that's noisy when it heats, or water that never gets as hot as it used to are all signs the unit is wearing out rather than having one bad component. If yours is fairly new and the problem is something like a heating element or a thermostat, a contractor can often repair it instead of replacing the whole unit.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on your current heater being old. A tankless unit heats water on demand instead of storing it, so you don't run out of hot water partway through back to back showers or a big load of laundry. It also takes up less space and tends to last longer than a tank. The tradeoff is that installing one usually means changes to the gas line, venting, or electrical, which a tank replacement doesn't need. A contractor can look at your setup and tell you what's actually involved in your house.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The unit itself is smaller and mounts on a wall instead of taking up floor space, but getting it running right usually means more than swapping one box for another. Gas fired tankless units often need a larger gas line to supply enough fuel for instant heating, and they need venting rated for their exhaust, which is different from what a tank used. Electric models may need a dedicated circuit sized for the unit. None of this means the switch is a bad idea, it just means the installation itself is more involved than replacing a tank with another tank, and a contractor needs to check your gas line, venting, and electrical before quoting the job.