LESLIE: We’re on our way to Texas with Claude. What’s on your mind?
CLAUDE: Just had questions on the tankless water heater versus the standard, you know, gas heater.
TOM: OK.
CLAUDE: And also the PEX type plumbing system; in particular, the (INAUDIBLE) system.
TOM: Well, let’s start with the PEX plumbing system. That was recently reviewed by the experts at Fine Homebuilding magazine. In fact, we had …
LESLIE: PEX is a new type of piping, correct?
TOM: Yeah. We had Kevin Ireton on; the editor of Fine Homebuilding magazine. They actually had done some research on that and were very, very positive with the results. So they were kind of excited about it. I personally had been afraid to try any new-fangled plastic pipes because of what happened with all the recalls with the other types of plastic pipes. But the PEX has been getting a pretty good reputation as being a great option. So it’s interesting to see that the builders in the Houston area are starting to use that stuff.
Now, as far as the water heater is concerned, you know, your question is do you want a smart water heater or a dumb one. The standard water heaters, I always say that they’re dumb because they heat the water to the 120 degrees 24/7/365 whether you need it or not. The tankless water heaters do it on demand, which is the best way to go. Because this way, you’re only heating water that you actually need to use. Plus you have some additional functionality. For example, you could control the temperature of the water simply by adjusting a dial on the unit. So, let’s say if you have kids in the house and they’re taking a shower, you can dial it down 10, 15 degrees. If you want to do a real tough cleaning job, you can dial it up a little bit. And so on. So you have total control over it that way. So I really like tankless and I think that’s the way to go.
CLAUDE: Well, great. I really appreciate it.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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