2 ways you can go tankless without breaking the bank

Many homeowners see renovation projects as all-or-nothing affairs. The wallpaper has to be the same in every room or none at all, and the dining room furniture needs its pieces to come from the same set or each pulled together for a hodgepodge look.

Unfortunately, millions of homeowners have the same mentality when it comes to how they heat their water. While you probably realize that storage-type heaters can be tremendously energy-inefficient, you might not be ready to fork over the cash for a brand-new whole-house tankless water heater. If this is what's holding you back, you might want to check out these two ways you can bring tankless heaters into your home without breaking the bank.

With a little room under the sink, you could drastically improve your home's hot water supply.

1.  Where you need it
Almost across the board, tankless units are smaller and easier to install in tight spaces than their larger counterparts. This means that you aren't relegated to placing your water heater in the basement, far away from all the places where you'll actually be using hot water. Instead, you can put a tankless heater right under the sink, shower or any other source.

This is what's known as point-of-use heating. As water from your storage heater reaches the faucet or shower, the tankless unit kicks in to supercharge the lukewarm water from your old machine in the basement. Even when the storage heater's tank is empty, all the tankless model at the source needs is a constant supply of water that it can keep heating until you're all done.

2. Lined up
If you only have one or two bathrooms or sinks that you use heavily, then it makes sense to install a few point-of-use tankless heaters around your home. However, if you have several  places to provide with heated water, this probably isn't the cost-efficient process you're looking for.

However, you can install just one tankless heater to boost the overall amount of hot water available to your home. Known as an in-line tankless heater, these units are installed along the same plumbing path that runs from your traditional heater to the rest of your home. If your old unit can't heat water to the desired temperature, the tankless model will raise it the rest of the way.

These in-line tankless heaters can be installed at any point in your home's plumbing system. Want to give more water to distant bathrooms that never seem to warm up? Put a tankless unit at a junction on that side of the house.

Smaller, more powerful and energy-efficient than their storage-type counterparts, tankless water heaters offer homeowners more flexibility than ever before. While whole-house tankless heaters exist, these smaller options help ease people into the idea that an endless supply of perfectly warmed water really is a possibility for their homes.

Don't suffer through another shower or sink-full of dishes with lukewarm water and purchase a point-of-use or in-line tankless heater today.