A good portion of your energy bill is spent on hot water heating. Therefore, it would be more economical find a more efficient way of heating hot water. What if we only heated the hot water that we required? A standard tank gas, oil, or electric hot water heater constantly heats water all day, all the time even when you are away on vacation or sleeping. This is known as standby lose and represents approximately 10% to 20% of a household's annual water heating cost. The problem however, is that these systems have been in use and have proven to be fairly reliable for more than a hundred years. Which makes it difficult to convince a person to change out their system with one that has only been around half that time, even if the new system will reduce their energy bills, conserve energy, and provide hot water on demand at a more consistent rate, and a more reliable temperature. This new system isn’t very new at all. Tankless water heaters gained popularity in Europe, then Canada, shortly after World War II. Approximately fifty years ago, they began to appear in the United States. Over the years, an increasing number of gas and electric tankless water heaters have appeared on the market, making it easier to find a system in a specific price range as well as size to meet your needs. Another benefit with tankless water heaters, because they are tankless they require less space, thus giving you more options as to where they can be installed. While many electric tankless hot water heaters can be easily installed by the homeowner, there are some considerations such as ensuring that the unit has the proper voltage, amperage, and its own circuit breakers, as well as an emergency shutoff valve, it may be best that the installation be left in the hands of qualified technicians. Before you toss out your old water tank, however, consider adding a solar component to your hot water system. Even with your new tankless system, any free preheated water, which enters the process, will save you on your energy bills. There are several solar designs that use insulated storage tanks similar to the ones used in the old tank water heaters. In warmer climates where freezing isn't a concern, direct solar heated water circulating systems can be used from the collectors to the tank. However, in colder climates where temperatures do fall to freezing, then a drain back or heat exchanger type system should be considered. When integrating a solar design system with your tankless system, the only expense you will have is the initial installation cost, the price of routine maintenance, and the small cost of energy to power the circulation motors if they are required. The hot water you will be enjoying will be created from a renewable energy source. By having a solar design hot water system, you will be giving your tankless system that extra boost, providing you with very economical and consistent hot water. These are several other appropriate technologies, which will work together with your tankless hot water heater to provide you with the ultimate in economical hot water.
4 Comments
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2017
Categories |