Most people don't really think at lot about the water heaters down in the basement until something goes wrong, when their current system finally hits the end of the line. When that heater finally wears out its welcome, then suddenly its time to do some research and some shopping.

Replacement options include more of the same, or looking into something that would be considered an upgrade, in this case, a tankless hot water system. Providing an adequate supply of hot water for your family will make everyone happy, and prevent those arguments about who used all of the hot water.

Natural gas powers many homes in the United States today. Not surprisingly, manufacturers of hot water heaters have designed them with natural gas inputs for the homeowner. With energy supplies tightening up, exploration for new natural gas reserves will continue as Americans look for oil alternatives.

Companies are aware and intent on providing consumers with clean burning natural gas rather than oil and coal. Natural gas will continue to be the fuel of choice for both home heating and major appliances such as water heaters. Overall, natural gas is also used in nearly half of all United States households. More utility companies continue to use this as the fuel to heat the water needed by their paying customers.

Natural gas is much friendlier to the environment, especially when you consider that most homes and the electric powered hot water heaters within are often powered by other fuel sources. Many power plants are still fired by coal, which of course brings into play the emission of pollutants and particles that go on up into the atmosphere. Pulling natural gas out of the ground does not involve the same burning process as a coal-fired electrical plant, thus it is a much more green way to provide needed fuel.

Natural gas thus is a cleaner, cheaper way to provide home energy. Today, tankless hot water heaters also called a demand or instantaneous water heaters can use either natural gas or electricity. Significant savings can thus be had, as there is not a storage tank that must constantly be heated up over and over. On the other hand, storage tank water heaters must deal with standby heat losses due to their storage tanks.

Therefore, the best overall setups use natural gas fuel combined with tankless heater technology. This gives the homeowner a constant, never ending flow of hot water, yet at the same time saves money with the latest technological advances. When natural gas fuel is not available, as is the case in many rural areas, a good alternative is propane, which many people do use in these areas.

Propane is another clean burning fuel, and manufactures have addressed the need by creating tankless water heaters that run off of either propane or natural gas.