Water heaters are extremely essential for houses as winters approach and even after winter’s end. Water heaters become an absolute necessity when the temperatures are low, and the water is intolerable on the skin. Besides the basic need to bathe and clean yourself, you also need hot water to wash utensils and to do laundry sometimes. Therefore, except if you are in the torrid zones of the planet where temperatures are high, you are in dire need of a water heater.
Types Of Water Heaters
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There are multiple types of heaters, and you also need to understand how each of them works. Besides the working, the functions, styles, benefits, and disadvantages need to be measured and known.
1. Electric Heaters
The very first type of water heater is the electrical water heater. It is one of the most common water heaters in the world because of the ease of access to electricity. These types of heaters work on the principle of converting electrical energy into heat by heating up a rod that comes in contact with water contained inside the tank. The water is heated through simple conduction.
Electrical water heaters have multiple features like digital displays and wifi connectivity to modify temperatures and automatic usage as well. Some electrical heaters also have an auto clean feature that fills up water into the tank and flushes it out so that there is no dirt or debris in the tank. The tanks usually take up somewhere between one thousand and three thousand watts of electricity.
2. Instant Heaters
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Instant heaters, as the name goes, heat up water as and how it is supplied to the geyser. The reason why they are not usually preferred in places where electricity is not so readily available as it requires a constant supply of electricity to function. The capacity of instant water heaters usually means how much water it can heat up at once. The average capacity for such heaters is one to three liters. They are quite small in their dimensions and also require a higher amount of wattage as they heat up water at a higher rate.
3. Absorbent Heaters
Absorbent heaters are quite a robust and fundamentally functional set of heaters. They try to use the exact temperature of the environment to heat water. It is only useful in conditions where there is some heat source, be it a heat wave or a geothermal source of heat. It could even extract heat from an active lava under the earth’s surface. However, such technology is only available in some places. It is too complicated and unnecessary for many people.
4. Immersion Heaters
This type of heater is extremely common and is also one of the oldest formats of a heater. Immersion heaters simply rely on a hot rod. The hot rod is immersed in the water that is meant to be heated. As the rod is hot, it conducts the heat to the colder water around it. This warms up the water. Such heaters are usually very cost effective. There are two specific types of immersion heaters as well. A rod is simply put into a fireplace and then later put into water elsewhere. It was a medieval way of heating up water. The other immersion technique has an electrical hot rod. Electricity heats the rod up, and it can heat the water in turn.
5. Gas And Fuel Heaters
Gas and fuel heaters are not used so commonly when electricity is available to residents. However, it is a reliable source of hot water when there is cheap fuel available at all times. In severely cold countries, it is possible to have some fuel, wood, gas, or other combustible items to heat up water. Therefore such heaters rely on producing heat through combustion. This combustion generates heat which is transferred to the water. Therefore, it is quite effectively used in places where electrical dependency is low.
Which Heaters Are Needed For Your Home?
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You must know which factors affect the choice of the type of water heater that you wish to use.
Availability Of Electricity
Electricity is a very important requirement whether you wish to use storage geysers or instant heaters. Most geysers in modern times will require electricity as it is widely available. Therefore, you must know whether your region has reliable electricity or not. If you do not have consistent electricity and you also wish to have an electrical heater, you will require a generator or an inverter with a storage water heater.
Water Capacity
Water capacity is an essential element when it comes to heaters. It would be best if you realized how much water you need to heat up at once. It depends not only on the number of people in the house but also on the amount of water needed by each member. Besides, a larger capacity is always preferable if you wish to store hot water by heating it once a day.
Energy Consumption
Most geysers take up a lot of energy. This can be straining your wallet in the long run. Heaters always require a high wattage. As stated earlier, most heaters use up to three thousand watts of electricity. This is quite a high number. Therefore it is best to make efficient use of the geyser and the hot water made in it.
Whenever you purchase a water heater, you have to consider multiple factors. Depending upon our own discretion and requirements, you need to weigh every factor differently. Certain factors may be more important for you than others. It would be best if you made an ideal combination of all the factors before deciding upon the heater. Therefore, getting the right balance is quite essential in choosing the correct heater for your house.
