Efficient Water Heaters: Are They Worth It?

Did you know that an average American will use approximately 88 gallons of water each day?

All of us rely on water and water heaters for bathing, cooking, washing, and other home chores since they are hardworking machines.

For many people, it’s an appliance they seldom give much thought to. While it’s tempting to just buy the first tank that the plumber offers, it’s not the finest strategy to get the ideal water heater for your residence.

Keep on reading for our full breakdown of everything you need to know about efficient water heaters and how they work.

Types of Water Heaters

Let’s start with tank-type heaters and tank-less ones.

Tankless water heaters may seem to provide the greatest efficiency potential. Yet, they are better suited to residential usage and are not regarded as efficient in commercial applications.

Because of their prevalence and recognizability, they’re the most often used. These traditional cylindrical tanks, also known as storage water heaters, heat and store water. They ensure that it is always warm and ready for use.

To increase the temperature of the water, a fuel such as natural gas, propane, or electricity gets burned or it uses electricity to create heat.

And, if you’re attached to your current water heater, you can always just hire todds water heater repair to fix it for you.

Using Natural Gas vs. Using Electricity

Even though electric water heaters aren’t as efficient as natural gas ones, they’re popular. Faster and cheaper to operate than electric heaters, gas water heaters can heat water to the desired temperature in half the time.

HE (high-efficiency) water heaters and Standard (atmospheric) water heaters are both commercial gas water heaters. There is a wide range of hot water output, as well as a wide range of installation requirements, for each kind of unit. Understanding the differences between these options can help you make an informed decision.

The Jewel of Efficient Water Heaters: Hybrid Electric Water Heater

Think of the way that a refrigerator captures heat from the air and transfers it to the water tank. Hybrid electric water heaters, or heat pump water heaters, function in the same way.

Hybrid electric water heaters make use of the heat already present. It makes them up to three times more efficient than traditional electric water heaters.

Water heater efficiency is critical for minimizing your monthly power bill. After all, they account for up to 20% of your total electricity use.

How Do They Work?

The appliance has a secondary heat exchanger for high-efficiency water heaters. It helps optimize the amount of heat energy that it can extract from the combustion process, much like a regular water heater does.

High-Efficiency (HE) commercial water heaters must have a thermal efficiency of 90% or above. In the majority of cases, this can happen in one of two ways.

As a first step toward greater efficiency, sealed combustion is essential. In other words, the combustion process takes place within the tank itself, surrounded by the water it is heating.

Therefore, there is no exposed flame or heat loss during this process. As a result, the water is able to heat more quickly from the center out rather than from the bottom up.

To keep the “seal” intact, sealed-combustion water heaters have specialized intake and exhaust pipes that link them directly to the outside. These heaters include a blower. It kicks in when hot water is required so that it sucks fresh air from outside.

And, then exhausts down a specified conduit, rather than through a chimney so that they don’t have to be constantly monitored.

Next Step: Condensation

Exhaust follows a long journey via a secondary heat exchanger, which is typically coiled for the maximum surface area. However, some versions employ a reversed travel path for the second heat transfer procedure (down, up, down again).

Exhaust gas temperatures fall to a point where water vapor condenses back into liquid water, releasing the latent heat of vaporization that is utilized to heat the water in the system further. As a result of this heat transfer, the exhaust gas temperature drops.

Condensate is discharged from the system via a condensate drain. PVC pipe can be used for venting since the exhaust gases are cold enough, but they also lose stamina as they travel, which is why all HE units are powered-vented, e.g. fan assisted.

Sealed combustion water heaters are available in both condensing and non-condensing variants (often referred to as “direct-vent”), although the condensing models have a higher thermal efficiency of 95-98 percent and are the most widely used HE units on the market. They are worth noting.

What Does “Energy Efficient” Mean?

Commercial gas water heaters are evaluated differently than residential ones when it comes to efficiency.

In order to get an official Energy Factor (EF) rating from the DOE, only water heaters with a gas input of 75,000 BTU or less are evaluated (US Dept of Energy). That’s why the Energy Star label is normally reserved for home appliances.

Commercial water heaters, which have an output of more than 75,000 BTUs, do not have an EF rating. If you want to know how efficient they are, you may look at how much energy they take from their fuel, represented as a percentage.

In this article, “high-efficiency” refers to commercial-grade equipment with a thermal efficiency of at least 90%. Even though all water heaters are required by law to be at least 80% efficient, anything less is deemed “standard.”

Energy Efficient Water Heaters: Explained

It’s critical to grasp the ins and outs of high-efficiency and ordinary industrial water heaters, as well as their distinctions. The same rules apply to both residential and commercial heaters. 

Hopefully, our guide has shed some light on efficient water heaters and what makes them unique. Next, you can check out our home improvement and energy sections. We have more tips on becoming more energy-efficient.