Water Heater Installation in Farmington, NM
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Farmington winters put real demands on a water heater
Winter nights here average 20°F from December through February, and homes run their heat from October through May, eight months of the year. A water heater sits in that same cold for most of that stretch, not just on the coldest night.
Power doesn't always stay on when weather turns. Across New Mexico, 13% of households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and San Juan County has recorded 30 winter storms and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps making hot water through an outage. One with electric ignition won't light until power is back. Either way, a new install has to clear the federal efficiency minimum, and that minimum isn't one number for every unit. It's a formula based on the tank's rated volume, so what your new water heater has to meet depends on how many gallons it holds.
- 20°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 13%
- of New Mexico 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 $340 a year to run in New Mexico compared with an electric water heater.
Estimates for a typical New Mexico home, from EIA household energy data and New Mexico 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. Most tank water heaters last about a decade, and past that point the tank itself is more likely to fail than any part inside it. Rusty water, a tank that's noisy or ticking, or water pooling around the base all mean the tank is going, not just a part in it. If yours is still fairly new and the trouble is no hot water or not enough of it, that's more likely a part like the thermocouple or heating element, and worth having looked at before you replace anything.
- Should I switch to a tankless water heater?
- It depends on what you want out of it, not on which one is better outright. A tankless unit heats water only when you run a tap, so it doesn't hold a tank of hot water waiting, and it takes up a lot less space on the wall. A tank keeps a supply ready, which some households prefer for showers back to back. Either kind can be sized to a home, so the real question is which trade-off fits how the house uses hot water, and a contractor can walk through that with you.
- What changes when you install a tankless water heater?
- The unit itself changes, not just the size. A tankless heater mounts on the wall instead of sitting on the floor, and it needs its own gas line sized for it and venting run to the outside, both often different from what the old tank used. Because it has no tank to draw down, it can supply hot water as long as a tap is running, without the wait for a tank to reheat. A contractor will check the existing gas line, venting and electrical to see what has to change for the new unit.