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Water Heaters Use A Lot Of Energy When Heating Water...All water heaters use a lot of energy when heating water. On demand tankless water heaters consume a lot of energy and even more is wasted in hot water storage heaters. You can never understand how water heaters work if you do not understand the energy factor of the on demand Tankless & storage hot water heaters. If you know the energy factor defined then you will be able to fully grasp the functioning of any water heater... In the United States it is a must (actually it's enforced by law) for All hot water heaters to have the energy factor rated and displayed for that specific hot water heater. The energy factor can be very hard to calculate and is based upon the type of hot water heater and the energy source used to heat the water. A second very important factor is called First Hour Rating which will be described in detail here First Hour Rating. Click here for detailed information on the Energy Factor Do not be confused by these factors...Knowing how to use them will save you money!A quota of a household's energy is used to heat water in storage tank gas fired hot water heaters. The tankless water heaters are a new technology and are very useful for certain applications. The on demand water heaters work well for those applications that have relatively low heating demands in restricted areas and also in new structures. Retrofitting tankless hot water heaters are also very expensive. There is no way one can fully describe a water heater without reverting back to the Energy Factor ... Every hot water heater (whether on demand or storage tank heater) must be supplied with a certified Energy Factor. This factor 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 for a low rated Energy Factor. Gas instant or on demand water heaters Energy Factors typically range from 0.64 to 0.85 based according to GAMA A closer look at a gas fired instant or on demand heater...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. 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 instant or on demand or storage hot water heater of any kind .... The instant or on demand hot water heater will nearly always be more efficient than any storage hot water heater but any electrical hot water heater will almost always be more efficient than oil or gas burning units. The fundamental reason is that the fuel is not burned thereby wasting heat in exit air ... and no pilot light is required. However electrical energy is more expensive than the other two types so it is impossible to get the correct answer just looking at Energy Factor. 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 and
Data 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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