Electric Heating Systems

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.