My Technology

If you're wanting to economize on sizzling water, you should consider one of many new water heaters which are ENERGY STAR qualified. A few of these heaters can be found now, whereas others must be popping out over the following few months. Not solely can you save substantially on the power you purchase to heat your hot water, but it's possible you'll qualify for US or Canadian tax credit or even utility rebates if you set up some of these systems.

Hot water accounts for about 20% of US household vitality use, and the average family spends over $350 a year heating their water. The new applied sciences coming into the mainstream can save you as much as $100 a yr in energy prices, and you'll be decreasing your carbon footprint to boot. And lots of the newer technologies produce scorching water faster - either by using a tankless heater which gives hot water constantly, or by utilizing newer heating programs that may extra rapidly reheat a tank the place the recent water has already been used.

There are four foremost types of water heaters that have the ENERGY STAR seal of efficiency. The kinds are: gasoline storage heaters, convection gasoline heaters, tankless fuel water heaters, electrical heat pump heaters, and photo voltaic / gas or solar / electric hybrid heaters. Let's take a look at the merits of each type in turn.

Gas storage heaters are what many Americans have of their houses already: a water tank with a heating aspect underneath, and sometimes a pilot gentle in order that the tank can gentle up when the heat drops low enough. (That pilot mild, by the way in which, is costing you cash every second of each day.) The flames heat up the underside of the tank, and an exhaust stack that travels up by the middle of the tank travels up to the highest and out the exhaust pipe.

New gas storage heaters with the ENERGY STAR sticker are similar to current ones but have improvements in a number of areas. They're better insulated, which implies you lose much less heat out the edges, so the heater does not need to reheat the water as often. The burners are extra environment friendly, and the warmers include a warmth lure that prevents warmth from escaping into the new water pipes and leaking into the house air spaces. All informed, these newer storage heaters are about 7.5% extra environment friendly than conventional models.

Condensing gasoline heaters are a newer innovation that works on the same precept as a normal gas storage heater, besides that as an alternative of sending the exhaust gases straight up the center of the heater in a vertical pipe, these heaters ship the exhaust gases up a number of pipes that journey obliquely up to the top - for instance in a spiral pattern. This implies the gas takes longer to journey upwards, and has more surface space change with the tank itself, and because of this considerably extra of the heat from the burning gases will get into the recent water, with less of it going up the stack as waste heat.

ENERGY STAR necessities for traditional storage fuel heaters are an energy factor of 0.62, which implies that for every 1 unit of warmth input, 0.62 models of heat needs to be delivered to the end user (whoever or whatever is on the sizzling water faucet). Compare that to condensing fuel water heaters, which will need to have an vitality issue of 0.eighty to satisfy ENERGY STAR requirements. That means that if you go for a condensing water heater you may be utilizing about a third much less energy than with a typical fuel storage tank, assuming both minimally qualify for the ENERGY STAR logo. Not only that, but in condensing gas heaters the water warms up so quickly that you just get an virtually continuous provide of sizzling water, in contrast to with a traditional sizzling water tank the place you may need to attend 15-30 minutes after using up all the hot water, before it's scorching enough to take another shower.

Tankless water heaters function by making use of a considerable amount of heat to cold water whenever there is a demand for it. Because they don't seem to be holding a tank of water hot, there aren't any standby losses (warmth escaping from the tank into the encircling airspace) and because of this, a typical tankless gas water heater has an energy factor of 0.80 or extra, substantially higher than a regular gasoline water tank. However, I am not a big fan of these items for a lot of reasons (I've each direct and oblique experience with fuel tankless water heaters, and direct experience with electric tankless water heaters).

My issues are twofold. First, I've found them to be failure prone, not less than those bought in the North American marketplace. This will partly be attributed to poor installation or servicing by technicians who aren't accustomed to this unusual equipment, however I think the standard of the tools itself is also a factor.

Second, these water heaters require substantial changes in habits. For instance, I like to clean the dishes through the use of hardly any water to begin, after which rinsing dishes in scorching water using short bursts from the tap. Doing this with a tankless water heater means you pretty much never get sizzling water, as a result of a tankless heater does not kick in with heat till there's been a second or two of stream first. Not solely that, but doing this could wreck some tankless water heaters, as my sister came upon when someone broke the warmth exchanger on hers (restore price: several hundred dollars) after biking the faucet on and off just a few times.

In consequence I am unable to in good conscience suggest tankless water heaters, but obviously some persons are proud of them - they're used extensively in other elements of the world. The one I used for 2 years in France within the 1970's worked like a allure (aside from the time it singed off my eyebrows, however that was partly my fault!)

The next kind of water heater with ENERGY STAR certification is a heat pump water heater. These heaters are touted as more than one hundred% vitality environment friendly, which is technically incorrect however is kind of the appropriate message. They do not really convert the electrical energy that power them into heat. As a substitute, they use that energy to transfer existing warmth from the encircling air into the water within the tank. Think of a warmth pump water heater as a fridge working in reverse: it extracts warmth from the air in the room the place it's put in (or from an out of doors airspace) into the water in the tank, utilizing the same type of evaporator/condenser circuit that a refrigerator or air conditioner uses. Consequently, warmth pump water heaters can extract 2 to three models of heat from the surrounding air for each unit of electrical vitality used to run the compressor, which is why you will note efficiencies of 200% or 250% or 300%. The two predominant drawbacks of warmth pump water heaters are their influence on indoor air temperatures, if they are drawing indoor warmth into the tank, and their suitability for out of doors installation or out of doors venting, in chilly climates. Let me explain both.

Should you install a heat pump water heater indoors and do not present an air intake and outlet to the outdoor, the heat pump will extract warmth from the encircling room and put it in the water tank. Consequently, the room will get colder because the water will get warmer. This is probably superb should you stay in a sizzling climate. Anywhere that air conditioning is used, you'll save on air con by heating your sizzling water with a heat pump. But in case you use heating for a part of the year, you may be drawing heat out of your living house, which you already paid to heat, and using that heat to warmth your scorching water, so there isn't any energy savings there.

You may work round this in cold climates by venting outside air in for use to extract warmth from, after which pumping the even colder exhaust air again outdoors in a closed loop. The problem with that is that a heat pump is way more efficient when there may be lots of warmth in the air to begin with; the colder the warmth supply is, the more electrical energy it takes to extract warmth from it to transfer that heat to the water. A heat pump is de facto not appropriate for areas the place temperatures fall under about 40F for a lot of the year.

However when you stay in Florida or California, they are in all probability a terrific investment.

The ultimate kind of ENERGY STAR qualifying water heater is a solar hybrid heater. These heaters encompass a photo voltaic part, which heats either water or a second fluid in photo voltaic panels on the roof, and a backup water heater comparable to an electric or gas water tank. To satisfy ENERGY STAR qualifications, the solar element should make up a minimum of 50% of the heating necessities, and there are a set of industry conformance tips the photo voltaic component should meet as nicely, referring to elements such as insulation levels and safety.

Solar water heaters can both warmth the water instantly, or, for colder climates, can warmth an antifreeze solution whose warmth is then passed to the water supply utilizing a warmth exchanger. The most environment friendly form of solar water heater is an evacuated tube water heater; unfortunately that is also the most costly type. Of course, for any that qualifies for ENERGY STAR, US residents will get a generous tax credit of up to 30% of the installation cost, to a most of $2,000.

The draw back to photo voltaic water heaters is that they're solely suitable for sites the place you've gotten good sun exposure. Within the Northern Hemisphere that means a south going through, sloped roof that's inside 15 levels of due south, and has full sun publicity for a minimum of 6 hours a day all yr long. If you don't have a south-facing roof, or you could have bushes or different buildings blocking daylight from the roof for part or the entire day, such a system will seemingly not work well or at all. And cost is another consideration; hybrid solar plus backup scorching water heaters can be very costly investments up front, even with out there tax credits. While you'll recoup those savings over time - significantly if natural gas and electrical energy prices begin to rise extra steeply than they have in the past - not everyone can afford this sort of investment, and there could also be higher methods to spend the money in your vitality effectivity budget. For instance, spending $3,000 insulating an additional bed room or upgrading some old home windows could well prevent greater than going for a photo voltaic sizzling water heating system.

No matter sort of sizzling water heater you select to go with, don't forget to plan ahead. Do your analysis well earlier than your current heater must be replaced. In the event you wait until your outdated tank fails before looking for a brand new ENERGY STAR unit, you'll be rushed and will not have a chance to buy one of the best mannequin to fulfill your needs. Many individuals have a tendency to just purchase regardless of the large box stores have on particular, or whatever the native utility is selling. But remember, they do not pay your month-to-month utility payments - you do! So you should definitely search for the ENERGY STAR brand, and purchase the know-how that is most acceptable to your needs.

And keep in mind also, that the easiest way to save lots of energy on hot water is to use much less of it.          

MF