Residential Hot Water Systems – Ways To Beat Huge Energy Bills

Posted by admin on July 29th, 2008 at 05:32pm

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Heating water for the home is a major cost for many people. It is estimated that it is approximately 20% of the monthly utility bills. This can mount up, especially as traditional energy sources that are used to heat the water increase in cost. This article will run you through a few types of residential hot water heaters that may save you some money on these monthly costs.

The principal sources of energy that heat water in the home are electricity or gas. For most homes, the water tank or boiler is the center of the water heating process. It is a large cylindrical metal tank. Inside the tank is a glass bottle that has insulation around it. The bottle stores the water and the metal casing protects the bottle from any damage.

Generally underneath the glass bottle (and sometimes above it) are an electric element or elements if you are using electricity or a gas burner if you are using natural gas. These turn on automatically whenever the water falls below a certain temperature that you can set on the thermostat.

This system has a problem in that it will continually reheat water when it drops below a certain temperature.

If the water is not used, this heat is generally lost to the environment regardless of how much insulation is in the tank. This loss of heat has to be replaced by using electricity or gas, even if you don’t use the hot water it creates.

This is the cost of having hot water at the turn of a faucet. Many people think this cost is unnecessary and an inefficient use of energy resources.

The remedy to this problem is to use a tankless hot water heater. This does the same as the traditional hot water system but without storing water in a tank. It provides on demand hot water.

It does this with a device known as a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is heated by an electricity or gas heater (just like the traditional system) but it is only used when water is about to be used.

The pipes that move the water to the faucet are wound round the exchanger or passed through it. As the water passes through these pipes it is heated, giving on demand hot water.

You will use less electricity or gas using this type of system because it is only used when needed rather than topping up hot water that may not be used. A tankless system can cost more than the other system but should last longer as it gets less use.

Another alternative is to go solar. By adding solar power to your water heating system you can save a considerable amount on heating bills. Solar hot water systems really mean that they derive the energy from the Sun but the storage method is essentially the same.

Solar hot water systems can be one of two types. The first is the passive system. This is relatively easy to install but may not fulfill all your hot water needs. It can act as a way to preheat water before it gets to the main hot water system. This can decrease the amount of work for the traditional system.

The second method is known as an active system. It used solar panels that generate electric current. This can be used to power the entire house, including the heating element in the water heater or the heat exchanger in the tankless water system. Using this method your energy bills would be minimal as the electricity generated would be free.

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