Electric Heating Systems

The purchase of an electric hot water heater is not a small purchase for any homeowner, and trying to find the best electric water heater may make you feel harried and more than a little mentally frazzled. It would be wonderful if there was one best electric water heater for everyone. Then this article would be done and you would be on your way to the appliance store. It used to be that way because the only choices were number of gallons and electric or gas/propane. Since I cannot provide you with the single answer and be done, I’m going to provide you some hints and ideas for your expensive purchase.

Hints and Tips in the Electric Hot Water Heater Hunt

Its not 100 percent true but the longer the warranty on the electric hot water heater means that you are going to get a heavy gauge metal and other higher grade products. So the warranty length should be your first consideration.

How many gallons you need should be your second consideration. If your current water heater that you are going to replace with the electric hot water heater is 40 gallons and you always run out of water, consider the 50 gallons. With a 12 year warranty you are going to be with this appliance for a while, make it work for you.

You next item is the first hour rating, which gives you the information of how much hot water the electric hot water heater is going to deliver for your use if the first hour. This rating is not something most people know to check this item on an electric hot water heater or any other water heater.

If your are going with an electric hot water heater, you might also want to consider electric tankless hot water heater to add additional low cost heating to your system.

Last you need to verify that your new electric hot water heater has a high energy rating. Electric hot water heaters have some of the highest ratings. There is another reason to get this information, other than energy savings for you. Often, utility companies provide rebates for purchases of replacement appliances with energy ratings above a certain amount. Every energy company in every area can, and probably do, have different numbers which they have chosen. So when you have the information on the energy ratings of the models you would prefer, call the utility company and see which one will provide you the rebate.

The purchase of an electric hot water heater is not a small purchase for any homeowner, and trying to find the best electric water heater may make you feel harried and more than a little mentally frazzled. It would be wonderful if there was one best electric water heater for everyone. Then this article would be done and you would be on your way to the appliance store. It used to be that way because the only choices were number of gallons and electric or gas/propane. Since I cannot provide you with the single answer and be done, I’m going to provide you some hints and ideas for your expensive purchase.

Hints and Tips in the Electric Hot Water Heater Hunt

Its not 100 percent true but the longer the warranty on the electric hot water heater means that you are going to get a heavy gauge metal and other higher grade products. So the warranty length should be your first consideration.

How many gallons you need should be your second consideration. If your current water heater that you are going to replace with the electric hot water heater is 40 gallons and you always run out of water, consider the 50 gallons. With a 12 year warranty you are going to be with this appliance for a while, make it work for you.

You next item is the first hour rating, which gives you the information of how much hot water the electric hot water heater is going to deliver for your use if the first hour. This rating is not something most people know to check this item on an electric hot water heater or any other water heater.

If your are going with an electric hot water heater, you might also want to consider electric tankless hot water heater to add additional low cost heating to your system.

Last you need to verify that your new electric hot water heater has a high energy rating. Electric hot water heaters have some of the highest ratings. There is another reason to get this information, other than energy savings for you. Often, utility companies provide rebates for purchases of replacement appliances with energy ratings above a certain amount. Every energy company in every area can, and probably do, have different numbers which they have chosen. So when you have the information on the energy ratings of the models you would prefer, call the utility company and see which one will provide you the rebate.

It used to be that when you had to replace a water heater, pretty much your only choice was whether it was an electric hot water heater or a gas/propane hot water heater. There are many more choices now and some interesting variations. We will discuss only the electric hot water heater and the electric tankless water heater. The most interesting variation is the electric tankless water heater, which is not really new, but is now much more of a real choice. When then electric tankless water heater systems first became available they had problems with waterflow and getting water to the necessary temperature. These problems have been solved, but this is still one warning, a tankless water heating system still does not have the full waterflow of a regular water heater system.

Since you have chosen to go with an electric water heating system, perhaps you thought you were finished with your decisions. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it, there are some more choices to make

Factors in Electric Hot Water Heaters

The first decision is whether to have an electric tankless water heater or an electric hot water heater. If you choose the electric hot water heater you have a single purchase and installation to deal with. The electric tankless water heater requires an installation at each water outlet. While this may be a definite deal breaker for you, the savings in water heating bills over time can often overcome and far outstrip the savings of the installation of a single electric hot water heater. Safety is also a consideration was a hot water heater can be a fire source.

In fact, the choice to go with a tankless water heating system is one you can make over time. You can add an electric tankless water heater to begin the savings today. Add one to the guest bathroom, a pool, a dishwasher or other water outlets. This can begin to reduce your heating costs.

The second choice is which electric hot water heater to choose, if you decide to stay with a tank system. There are numerous new choices, such as: higher gallon capacity, stirrers, drainage valves, insulation Rvalue and an insulation jacket. People often complain that they run out of hot water, which could mean your system is no longer heating efficiently or that you really do lack gallon capacity necessary for your home. This brings into play the gallon capacity and the stirrers. The new systems have stirrers to force the water to completely circulate and stop silt buil-up on the bottom of the tank. Since the heating elements are on the bottom of the electric hot water heater tank you get reduced heat in the water and damage to the heating element due to the build-up. The electric tankless water heater does not have this issue, because there is no tank.

Last in R value and an insulation jacket. The Rvalue of a electric hot water heater is the insulation value around the core water tank and the outside of the water heater. How much of the heat from the water you heated stays in the water and how much escapes. Rvalues go from six to twenty-four, the higher number means more heat is held into the tank.

It used to be that when you had to replace a water heater, pretty much your only choice was whether it was an electric hot water heater or a gas/propane hot water heater. There are many more choices now and some interesting variations. We will discuss only the electric hot water heater and the electric tankless water heater. The most interesting variation is the electric tankless water heater, which is not really new, but is now much more of a real choice. When then electric tankless water heater systems first became available they had problems with waterflow and getting water to the necessary temperature. These problems have been solved, but this is still one warning, a tankless water heating system still does not have the full waterflow of a regular water heater system.

Since you have chosen to go with an electric water heating system, perhaps you thought you were finished with your decisions. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it, there are some more choices to make

Factors in Electric Hot Water Heaters

The first decision is whether to have an electric tankless water heater or an electric hot water heater. If you choose the electric hot water heater you have a single purchase and installation to deal with. The electric tankless water heater requires an installation at each water outlet. While this may be a definite deal breaker for you, the savings in water heating bills over time can often overcome and far outstrip the savings of the installation of a single electric hot water heater. Safety is also a consideration was a hot water heater can be a fire source.

In fact, the choice to go with a tankless water heating system is one you can make over time. You can add an electric tankless water heater to begin the savings today. Add one to the guest bathroom, a pool, a dishwasher or other water outlets. This can begin to reduce your heating costs.

The second choice is which electric hot water heater to choose, if you decide to stay with a tank system. There are numerous new choices, such as: higher gallon capacity, stirrers, drainage valves, insulation Rvalue and an insulation jacket. People often complain that they run out of hot water, which could mean your system is no longer heating efficiently or that you really do lack gallon capacity necessary for your home. This brings into play the gallon capacity and the stirrers. The new systems have stirrers to force the water to completely circulate and stop silt buil-up on the bottom of the tank. Since the heating elements are on the bottom of the electric hot water heater tank you get reduced heat in the water and damage to the heating element due to the build-up. The electric tankless water heater does not have this issue, because there is no tank.

Last in R value and an insulation jacket. The Rvalue of a electric hot water heater is the insulation value around the core water tank and the outside of the water heater. How much of the heat from the water you heated stays in the water and how much escapes. Rvalues go from six to twenty-four, the higher number means more heat is held into the tank.

When you have to make a choice about a new water heater, it can often mean that you just discovered the great fun of taking cold showers in the middle of the winter, compliments of the newly broken water heater. Its not a time that encourages you to do a great deal of research, but my suggestion is bite the bullet and spend a little time, it can avoid a newer set of cold showers shortly down the line.

While its not going to improve your attitude, you will need to contact your homeowners insurance and your home warranty company. Both may be required to help you cover the cost of the replacement water heater and they may have some control of what you have to purchase for replacement.

Now comes the choice, an electric water heater, a gas/propane water heater, electric tankless water heater or a gas/propane tankless water heater. Once you make that choice there are several choices of features that are relatively new in water heaters. Your climate can affect your water heater so there are considerations for the purchase.

Your first choice, the electric water heater or gas/propane water heater, and the considerations are a few. The first consideration is does your have a gas/propane service already installed. If not, the costs and time for installation may cost more than and electric water heater, over time. In light of the increased costs of propane, there may be no savings over and electric water heater, though most sources still include that as a selling point.

All appliances have to provide information on their capacities. Check to see how big your water heater is currently, and if you need more gallon capacity, often the home warranty and homeowners insurance wants to replace with the same size, but they will allow you to get a bigger gallon capacity and pay the difference.

Other features that have become available since your water heater was last replaced, are stirrers, electronic ignition, sealed air intake systems, pipe insulation, additional tank insulation, insulation jackets and new drainage valve configurations. All which are safer for you and increase the life of your water heater.

New Choices in Electric Water Heater and Gas/Propane Water Heather

Finally, you need to decide if you want a tankless water heater. The tankless models come as electric tankless water heater and a gas/propage tankless water heater. The decision here is more than electric water heater and gas/propane water heater, as above the choices are much the same; however, with the tankless system you have to have one for each water outlet. Thus if you have two showers you need to tankless systems. You need one for your kitchen, and anything else which draws from the water heater currently. There are big advantages to a tankless system, and as the name suggests, there is not tank. There is no loss of water while waiting for the water to “warm up”. That really means to have the hot water travel through the pipes to the water outlet. They don’t maintain a full water of water a full temperature all day and night. The costs savings can be extensive and should be addressed.