hot water heater

The Mysteries Of Heater Immersion

As the prices of heating fuel soar, many homeowners have become curious about exactly how their home and the water in it are heated, are kept heated and how they might become heated in a more energy-efficient way. Some hot water heaters, for instance, heat the water and keep it warm until it’s used. Other types don’t heat the water until it’s needed, saving the energy needed to keep it hot. Many of the storage types use heater immersion to heat the water. With heater immersion, an electrical element fits into the side of the water tank with the thermostat extending to the exterior of the tank for easy use.

Types Of Heaters

The common storage tank heater can be made more efficient by adding a timer to your heater immersion device to heat the water at off-peak times when energy is less costly. Even if that option is not available in your area, your storage tank can become more efficient by the addition of insulation around it. The less heat is lost to the surrounding area, the less energy is used to keep it warm. You may have an indirect water heater system. This means that your furnace or boiler heats your water while it heats the house. Most often, hot water from a boiler circulates through a heat exchanger in a nearby tank. Less often, a heat exchanger coil filled with water to be heated circulates through a furnace then through the storage tank. Since the exchanger penetrates the tank in either case, it is similar to the heater immersion method. Using modern equipment, this is often the most efficient system. The storage tanks are efficiently insulated, the heating equipment is high-efficiency and the need for the heater to turn on and off is much less frequent.

The on demand water heaters don’t use energy to warm storage tanks. The most efficient ones use natural gas and an electronic ignition to save on energy used in a pilot light. Solar heaters are making a comeback from the 1970s. While the sun’s energy is cost-efficient, the start-up costs are higher since tax credits are no longer available. However, today’s less expensive units compare with electric and propane heaters over the lifetime of the unit while natural gas still beats them all.

Whether you decide on heater immersion, on demand, solar power or some other technology, the most efficient heater for you is the one that uses the fuel you have at hand, works for your climates and personal needs and best integrates with your existing water system.

The Luxury Of Hot Water Heaters

There’s an old saying: A woman is like a tea bag; you don’t know how strong she is until you put her in hot water! Although this truism is unquestionably accurate, it would be difficult to put it to the test without a hot water heater.

In industrialized nations, hot water heaters are just simply “there.” We don’t even notice that they’re working properly until, all of a sudden, they aren’t. When that’s the case, we start panicking about things like showers, washing dishes and doing laundry. We think of all the things that are part of our everyday living, realizing that until the hot water heater is working, languishing in a warm bubble bath is a thing of the past.

What we take for granted – that hot water will spew forth on command when we turn on the faucet – other civilizations view as a luxury. In some parts of the world, even in some parts of remote, rural America, hot water heaters are non-existent. For example, the Aboriginal people of Australia and North America still haul water from streams and rivers in buckets, heating the water over an open fire. Why, we wonder, do they continue this practice when they know that all they have to do is flick a switch on a hot water heater, and it’s time to wash clothes? Respect for the traditions of their people, plain and simple. Sometimes what’s “easy” isn’t always “best.”

In most of the world, there’s a hot water heater in every basement or closet. Its capacity and rapidity of heating depends upon the number of family members who find hot water essential at various times of the day. With a capacity of 50-60 gallons, hot water heaters aren’t viewed as a luxury, but as a “given.” They replaced the burden of hauling and heating water from the nearby stream. But they also replaced the pleasant social interactions that once accompanied water-bearing, plus the self-esteem building that comes from viewing a job well-done.

How Dependable Are Hot Water Heaters?

If you live in a house most of your adult life – raising a family and doing all the activities that we cherish as a people, your hot water heater should last up to fifteen years, perhaps even more. These appliances are built for endurance and heavy use; another luxury. But of course, something’s bound to go wrong sooner or later, and your heater will need either repair or maintenance. Whether your hot water heater is power by natural gas or electricity, or even by solar power, there are some definite warning signs that tell you it’s time to call a repairman: (1) When you stop getting hot water from a faucet, (2) When you smell gas in the air near the heater, (3) When the appliance is sparking electricity or (4) When you notice a puddle of water near the hot water heater. Most of the time a simple repair job takes care of the problem, but there might also be a time for the heater to be replaced. Plan to spend about $300-$700, and you’ll return to luxury.

The Tankless Electric Hot Water Heater – A Great Device

Science does not allow any stagnation of technology. Water heaters, too, have come a long way from the coal and wood consumption types to today’s exceptional types of modern water heaters. One among the most convenient ones is the tankless electric hot water heater. If you are wondering what it is meant by ‘tankless’, let me enlighten you. There are two types of heaters. One is the heater which heats the water after it descends into a tank prescribed for this purpose, and the other one is one which will provide you with hot water without having to store water anywhere prior to the heating.

The Advantages Of The Tankless Electric Hot Water Heater

The main advantage is all the time you’ll save. The tankless electric hot water heater is a exceptional device by which water gets heated through hot waves, which pass through the pipes directly. It does not need to be stored in a place for heating up. This saves a lot of time; hence, it reduces anxiety regarding hot water and other related issues.

You will find the best of technology used in the making of the tankless electric hot water heaters of today. The features of the device are such that the tankless electric hot water heater can be applied to both residence and commercial places without any inconvenience, or major makeovers. This means that the cost would be more or less the same for both places.

The most common uses for this type of technology are swimming pools, one-day laundries, hospitals, nursing homes, and so on. Most of them come with a thermostat which can be used to fix the temperature. If it goes below three degrees, it will send its ‘control’ a message and then you will receive an immediate respite, or tuning up, of the heat. In many cases, the oscillation of the heat is controlled automatically, once you have fed the minimum and maximum ranges into its controlling device/remote.

The Disadvantages Of The Tankless Water Heater

Every good thing has a minus side and a plus side. You have read all the plus sides. Aren’t you interested to learn about the downside of this technological aspect? Well, the first and foremost is the cost. The electric hot water heater is far more expensive than the other types of heaters. This is because it needs a great deal of power to keep the water at a constant level of heat. If the minimum and maximum vary greatly, then it could be possible to cut cost a bit, since it will switch off automatically a little longer.