Getting The Most From Your Water Heater

If yours is a typical family, daylight brings about a multitude of showerers and bathers preparing for the business day, child and home care day, and school day. Invariably, this entails a lot hot water hogging while various family members stand outside the bathroom doors shouting “Hurry up! I’m late!” Financial-conscious fathers mutter “What’s she doing? I could have bathed a baby elephant with that much water.” Woe to the last person in the bathroom line; he or she is the most susceptible to having to make do with a barely-tepid hasty dowsing. Showers, shampoos, baby baths, make-up applications, hair styling, even coffee-making all involve the strenuous use of the family home’s water heater. Thus, the water heater’s gallon capacity and the rapidity of its ability to heat much-needed water are of serious priority. Consider: even after family members depart for school or work, stay-out-home spouses still have laundry to do, dishwashers to fill, and floors to mop. Again, the water heater’s dependability and capacity is sorely tested. By the end of the day, when dinner dishes are washed, baby is bathed, and faces are washed, your water heater is the un-noticed hero; when you turn on the hot water faucet, you usually get what you expect and only notice this appliance when it’s not working.

What Kind Of Water Heater Is Best For Me?

That depends. If you and your partner are the only ones in the home, you will likely do well with a smaller water heater that has “instant demand” capability. This means that the heater turns cold water into hot water very rapidly. These water heaters need to be fairly small – around 20 gallons – to heat up quickly.

However, a family of four will do much better with a water heater with a capacity of 50-60 gallons to meet the morning, daytime, and evening needs of personal hygiene, cooking and cleaning. Once the hot water supply is depleted, it usually takes about an hour for the hot water to appear in your faucets.

Expense is another thing to consider when purchasing a water heater for your home. You can buy a good-quality heater for $300-700 depending upon how many gallons you require to meet the needs of your family and whether you also purchase a warranty (recommended).

Finally, your water heater uses a variety of heat sources; natural gas, electricity, even solar power. With electric heaters you don’t have be concerned about losing the pilot light as with gas heaters, nor does your hot water availability depend upon the strength of the sun. Electric water heaters are a bit more expensive; you pay extra for the assurance that barring an electrical failure, your family’s needs for baths, showers and clean dishes is assured.

Need Determines Size Of Electric Water Heater

Whether building a new home, remodeling an older home planning your current and future needs can help you pick the right size electric water heater so you don’t have to suffer cold showers.

An electric water heater is basically a storage tank into which cold water flows. There is a switch, which shuts off the flow of water when it gets full. Most electric water heaters have two electric elements, which heat the water and keep it hot until it’s used and replaced by colder water. Each element is controlled by thermostats.

While an electric water heater can be as small as six gallons or as large as 120 gallons, the average family can generally be served with a 52-gallon electric water heater. However, the larger the family, the more capacity will be needed. When planning your needs you should also plan for potential growth of your family as well as the frequency of visitors, which may increase your need for additional hot water.

An electric water heater offers several advantages over gas, for example, as not having to be vented and it can be installed closer to walls and they do not have a pilot light which requires a small open flame or a thermocouple to keep the pilot light burning, which generally needs replaced every year or so. There is also less chance of overheating.

Adjust Temperature To Your Choosing

Another feature of an electric water heater, like most others, is the ability to adjust the temperature of the water through the use of a thermostat. By raising, or lowering, the water’s temperature, it can be adjusted to the family’s liking.

Electric water heaters also have built-in protection for pressure build-up in the form of a pressure relief valve. Occasionally pressure may build up and if it reaches a point higher than the check valve on the water line, it could push the hot water back into the feed line. This pressure release valve will harmlessly release any over pressure. However, having a leak from the pressure valve may be an indication of some other problem, which needs attention.

While maintenance on an electric water heater is minimal, problems can arise and unless the homeowner is experienced in plumbing and electrical repairs, it may be best to leave any repair or replacement to professionals. This could lessen the time needed to male repairs, or replace the unit, ensuring you have the hot water when it’s needed.

The Advantages Of Hot Water Gas Heaters

There are many ways to heat water. Among the more popular heaters you will definitely find the hot water gas heaters. These heaters are able to make the water at a high concession from he regular cost. There are far more advanced technology today and many of it logically have replaced he requirements of using the hot water gas heater. However, people all over the world still cling to this method of heating water stoically. Why? What do the people gain so much out of it that they need to stop the advancement of technology?

There Are Many Types Of Other Heaters Besides The Hot Water Gas Heater

There are indeed a good number of other heaters available and there are a lot people who are happy that such appliances have at last come out, so they would be able to enjoy the benefits that the modern technology brings. The electric water heater, for example, is in high demand and people are highly satisfied with their use. However, if you look at it, from a metaphorical point of view, the old is still gold, and the annual sale of hot water gas heaters were more than the other types, thought the other types are considered are considered far superior in performance.

The newest addition of the market is the tank less water heaters which are exceptional when it comes to work. They provide hot water the moment you turn the tap on, no exceptions. This is very much appreciated by young college girls because now they can take bath anytime of the evening or morning without having to worry of switching on the geyser 20-30 minutes ahead of time.

The choice of people in general, nonetheless, stays loyal to the hot water gas heater because it is simple to use and hence, its technology is understood by all without any exceptions. Second, it is much, much cheaper than the other modern heaters, which makes the hot water gas heater an all-rounder.

There are a few disadvantages though – the hot water gas heater is a but slow when compared to the other types of heaters and it also offers you almost always the cheapest possible price for hot water. On the other hand, the moment you need it to cool down, it can do so in the minimum of time, since the gas can immediately manipulated, giving you the exact ecstatic feeling of being able to soak into the tub at the exact temperature you love.