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What Is The Energy Factor When Heating Water?A lot of energy is used up when heating water in tankless or storage hot water heaters. A lot more energy is wasted in hot water storage heaters. Knowing the Energy factors will help you make an informed decision when looking for a water heater for your home. All tankless and storage tank heaters carry a certified Energy Factor rate and it is displayed for that particular hot water heater. The energy factor is not the same for heaters and is dependent on the type of hot water heater and the fuel or energy source used to heat the water. The First Hour Rating is also an important factor and will be described later. Do not be confused by these factors...Knowing them will safe you money!The Energy Factor in simple terms means that if the Energy Factor is high then the annual cost of power to run the tanklless hot water heater or the storage heater will be lower than it would be if the Energy Factor was low. Gas tankless water heaters have an Energy Factors that ranges between 0.64 and 0.82 based on GAMA. Making Water heating decisions When Crude Oil Prices Increase... I am going to use the example of a gas fired tankless heater to explain the energy factor...When you open the tap, the gas fire instantly switches on to heat the cold water that could have entered into the tankless heater to the desired temperature.. The end result is that a lot of gas is burned in a short space of time. The gas burns when it comes in contact with air. Hot surplus air makes its way out of the house through a venting system. The energy is being wasted when the air is hot and it is being channeled into the atmosphere Furthermore if a pilot light burns constantly then gas is always being wasted for nothing. Energy Factor determination facts take all losses into account and it is actually a measure of what percentage of the available energy in the gas is actually wasted by virtue of the design rather than usage by the consumer. What Is The Difference between Propane (LPG) And Natural Gas Hot Water Heaters A closer look at a gas fired storage tank heater ...The hot water storage tank is full of hot water when you wake up in the morning and it has been for most of the night as well. During the night, the water storage tank lost a lot of heat (energy) was being lost through the sides of the tank even though the tank will be insulated. All this energy is being lost for nothing... An average heat loss from such a system is presumed to be about 6 to 7% of the heat in the water and this in turn means you will use at least this (in fact some more) in extra gas just to keep the water temperature constant. Compare this to an electric tankless or storage hot water heater of any kind .... A tankless hot water heater is more efficient than any other storage hot water heater. An electrical hot water heater is far much better than any oil or gas burning units. The main reason is that the fuel is not burned thereby wasting air transfer ... and no pilot light is needed. However electrical energy is much more expensive than the other two types so it is impossible to get the correct answer just looking at Energy Factor. Life is made even more complex when you note that each energy type is rated in different units as follows
In summary electric hot water have highest Energy factors andIn the table below I have summarized the massive amount of published data on almost all makes and models of tankless and storage tank type hot water heaters. You will note significant differences between electric and gas tankless or storage hot water heaters.
Source GAMA 2003 You can read a wide range of water usage articles. They discuss the use of water in the house and home ... topics covered include filters, heaters, softeners and water in the garden. |
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