Installing Water Heater Under the Sink - Home Plumbing Tips

How often have you had to stand there and wait for the hot water to start flowing out of your kitchen or bathroom faucet. This is a situation that almost every homeowner has found themselves in at one time or another.

This is where under-the-sink water heaters come in.

These units can solve this problem for you at a cost of a couple hundred dollars. As soon as you turn on the hot water, the water will actually be hot. You'll never again have to wait around for the water to get hot. You could actually do something productive with all the time that you would have been waiting.

There are several different types.

The first type we'll take a look at is the tankless style. This basically consists of a mechanism that is installed in the hot water supply line under the sink. As the water passes through, it gets heated. Surprisingly, these units work quite well, even as fast as they must heat the water as it is going through.

You can adjust the heat on most of these models to control how hot the water comes out. This keeps your family safe and allows you to control the energy consumption.

You can also get a water heater that has an under-the-sink tank. Basically, these are similar to the whole house water heaters, just on a smaller scale. The only difference is that these units are usually electric instead of gas or propane.

Due to variations in use and design, it's hard to determine which of these units consumes more electricity. The first style, without the tank, must use a lot of energy to quickly heat the water as it passes by. The other style must use less energy for a longer time to keep the water in the tank heated.

The installation is similar to that of an under-the-sink water purifier. The only difference being that the unit is installed into the hot water line instead of the cold. You can get dual units that will heat and purify the water at the same time. One side ties into the cold water and the other goes to the hot water line.

First, you want to disconnect the hot water supply under the sink. This will be attached with some type of hose, either the screw tightening type or a squeeze clamp. This type of clamp may require the use of pliers to get it off.

Over time, sometimes these hoses can become stuck. If you jerk it off too hard you may risk tearing it. If this happens, you will be spending a good bit of time scraping the rest off with a knife. Twist and pull the hose off gently or you might also end up breaking off the nibs.

After this, clean all of the fittings completely. You can dissolve the lime and copper oxide with a good cleaning solvent. To get the fittings cleaned properly, you may also need to do some light sanding.

Take about six inches of Teflon plumber's tape and wind it around the nib. This will be unnecessary if they are designed to seal by themselves. Avoid using any kind of adhesive like PVC glue or plumber's putty. This will make it very difficult to replace the hoses at a later date. This is an added hassle that you don't need and doesn't have to be.