Electric Heating Systems

Before you make your hot water heater purchase you should determine if you have made the best choice. Evidently you have made the choice of an electric hot water heater. To make sure that you have gotten the best bargain for you, you should takes some steps to ensure your best interests. There are four steps that we can recommend.

Step One - Look At Your Fuel Choice

If you have an availability of an electric water heater and a gas water heater, do research about the costs of the two different types of fuels, over time. Not all areas have both choices available and the rise in electricity and gas costs have altered which water heater is the best value anymore. So rather than just say an electric water heater is the better deal or that a gas water heater is the better deal, is no longer a valid designation. Check that any electric water heater review you use covers the new prices for gas and electricity.

Step Two - Check An Electric Water Heater Review

There are several consumer magazines and appliances retailers that have electric water heater reviews available for your use. Make extensive you of them to check the availability of features that you need and want.

Step Three - Look At The FHR

There is a rating on all water heaters called the first hour rating is the amount of water that will be heated and delivered in an hour. This is an important rating and should be covered in any electric water heater review, if it is not covered, you may want to look for another review for more complete information.

Step Four - Check The Energy Efficiency Rating

Each water heater listed in the electric water heater review should have an energy efficiency rating number. It is a rating of how efficiently the water heater uses fuel and the costs over time. The higher the number the better. There is also another step within this one. Check with your local electric company to determine what rebates, if any, are available for the replacement by an energy efficient electric water heater. It is not usually a large amount, but it helps with the costs.

As a final thought, there may be a rebate from your home owners insurance or home warranty company for the replacement. Sometimes the electric water heater review may note this information, if not call both companies and verify rebates or discounts for the new appliance.

Water heaters have come some real distance in options in the last ten years. They now have a small electric water heater that fits under a counter and has seven to ten gallon capacity. While this would be of little use to a homeowner to produce the hot water needed for a full family house, but they have many uses. This small electric water heater is perfect for a cottage, guest house, RV, efficiency apartment. There are a plethora of small electric water heater manufacturers and models available to choose from. The choices are such that the items that you would normally consider for a purchase of other full size appliances come into play.

One of the easiest ways to first determine which small electric water heater to purchase is to find and read carefully a electric water heater review. Once you have done this, seriously consider exactly what you want this small electric water heater to do. Such as, if it is to supplement an existing large water heater, what capacity do you need? If it is rarely used, would a tankless water heating system be better? They have a small electric water heater that produces hot water for perhaps an office break-room.

What you are calling on the small electric water heater to do, can give you additional options. If this is for occasional use in a cottage, the on demand water heater may be your best option. Or if its for an RV would a tankless system provide what you need and not have problems being out of use for months at a time.

Caveats in Purchasing a Small Electric Water Heater

The caveat list is not long, but it should be checked carefully to avoid wasting your money with a small electric water heater product that will not supply what you need.

Backflow issues if this is to be installed inline may require additional backflow valves.

If it produces seven to ten gallons of hot water we are not discussing a shower type of water heater.

While they plug into a normal outlet plug, make sure it will not overload the breaker it is on.

A tankless on-demand water heater does not have the same amount of waterflow as a regular water heater.

Most of these small electric water heater units are considered to be a booster, to provide additional hot water to an existing system.

The units may be small but the prices are not substantially lower on the small electric water heater than the regular full-size water heater.

Anderson-Bolds is an authorized Watlow Distributor and channel partner.


Watlow is the largest custom designer and manufacturer of industrial electric heaters, sensors, controllers and software; with offices and manufacturing facilities around the world.
Watlow brings its thermal expertise to numerous applications, including semiconductor, analytical instrumentation, medical equipment, plastics processing, foodservice equipment, packaging, aerospace and others.


Watlow manufactures a myriad of types of heaters. Included in the Watlow mix are:



Advanced Ceramic Heaters

When you need a lot of power in a small package, the ULTRAMIC® 600 puts the performance of advanced ceramics to work for you. Constructed of aluminum nitride (AlN), the ULTRAMIC 600 can operate up to 600°C (1112°F) and deliver ultra-fast ramping of up to 150°C (270°F) per second for rapid thermal cycling applications.

Band & Nozzle Heaters

Led by the high performance MI (mineral insulated) Band heater, the patented, flexible THINBAND® heater and the standard mica band heater for specialized constructions, Watlow's band and nozzle heaters are ideal for every type of plastics processing equipment.

Cartridge Heaters

The Watlow FIREROD® heater enters its 50th year of industry leading expertise as the premier choice in swaged cartridge heating. With premium materials and tight manufacturing controls, the FIREROD heater continues to provide superior heat transfer, uniform temperatures and resistance to oxidation and corrosion even at high temperatures.
FIREROD offers many delivery programs to meet your needs: same day shipment, Ship-to-Stock or Just-in-Time. And our experience in customized engineering is reflected in over 250,000 FIREROD cartridge heater designs. Stock or made-to-order, the Watlow FIREROD delivers heat in a hurry.

Cast-in Heaters

When Watlow creates a custom-engineered cast-in product, the result is more than just a heater. It's a "heated part" that becomes a functional component of your equipment, designed in the exact shape and size you need. The IFC heated part consists of a Watlow heater element built into custom metal shapes designed specifically for your application.

Ceramic Fiber Heaters

Ceramic fiber heaters integrate a high temperature iron-chrome-aluminum (ICA) heating element wire with ceramic fiber insulation. Numerous stock, standard and/or custom shapes can be provided, achieving the "heated insulation" concept for your high temperature, non-contact applications. The ceramic fiber insulation isolates the high temperatures inside the heated chamber from the outside. The heaters are low mass, fast heating, with high insulation values and self-supported heating elements that offer some of the highest temperature heating capabilities within the Watlow family of heater designs.

Circulation & Process Heaters

Watlow's circulation heaters are compact heating solutions for fluids such as purified and inert gases, supercritical fluids and liquids like de-ionized water for use in semiconductor and electronics industries as well as for general liquid and gas heating applications.
Watlow's industrial process heater lines of immersion, circulation and duct heaters are used to heat a myriad of high and low viscosity fluids ranging form de-ionized and process water, oils, solvents, rinse agents, caustic solutions, etc. to process gases like air, nitrogen, purified and inert gases as well.

Coil & Cable Heaters

The versatile Watlow cable heater can be formed into a variety of shapes as dictated by its many applications. These small diameter, high performance units are fully annealed and readily bent to your desired configuration.

Flexible Heaters

Flexible heaters from Watlow are just what the name implies: thin, bendable and shaped to fit your equipment. You can use your imagination to apply heat to the most complex shapes geometries conceivable without sacrificing efficiency or dependability.
Click here to find out more about Watlow's syringe heaters. You can also view a short animated presentation demonstrating a syringe heater application.

Multicell Heaters

The multicell heater from Watlow offers independent zone control for precise temperature uniformity, loose fit design for easy insertion in and removal from the equipment and extreme process temperature capability. The heaters are available with up to eight independently controllable zones and one to three internal thermowells for removable sensors. Custom assemblies are available

Nozzle/Slip-on Heaters

Watlow offers a full line of hot runner nozzle heaters for the plastics industry as well as slip-on heaters for the medical and analytical industries. While every heater has a unique set of capabilities, each nozzle heater is designed to meet specific application requirements. Whether you require high performance, high temperature or high watt density Watlow has the heater to best fit your application. Watlow's family of nozzle/slip-on heaters include, THERMASLEEVE™ nozzle, MI nozzle, syringe, thick film cylindrical, mica nozzle, coiled nozzle, mini-coil nozzle and metric mini K-RING® nozzle heaters

The THERMASLEEVE nozzle heater is a low profile, high-performance electric heater with rapid thermal response that allows the heat to be created precisely where it is needed. The patented manufacturing technology features a computer-controlled laser cutting technique that precisely generates the power distribution pattern. The heater is designed to have intimate contact with the surface of the nozzle, which optimizes heat transfer. This intimate contact combined with lower heater mass contributes to rapid thermal response to and from the nozzle tip. This helps reduce cycle times and ensures high quality final parts.

Polymer Heaters

For the latest in heating technology from Watlow, specify a heated plastic part in your next product. Watlow's heated plastic parts combine resistive heating elements with thermoplastic compounds to create a heated assembly. Watlow utilizes standard compression molding techniques to produce heated plastic parts that are durable, safe and cost-effective

Radiant Heaters

With Watlow's diverse RAYMAX® radiant heater line, we have a solution for almost any application requiring radiant heat. Our capabilities cover a wide range of needs, from contamination-resistant panel heaters to fast-responding quartz tubes to rugged tubular elements and high temperature ceramic panels.
Applying radiant heaters can be complicated. Watlow's engineering staff has the level of training required to help you meet your application requirements, providing a high degree of technical support such as conducting testing for your application at our facility, calculating your watt density and temperature requirements, and recommending system components such as sensors and controllers. With our experience in a wide range of industries, chances are Watlow has already helped someone handle a radiant heating application like yours.

Strip Heaters

Watlow's mica and 375 strip heaters are the versatile solution for a number of applications. They can be bolted or clamped to a solid surface for freeze and moisture protection, food warming and other applications. The 375 finned strip heaters are commonly used for air heating, drying ovens and space heaters

Thick Film Heaters

Watlow layers thick film resistor and dielectric materials on quartz and stainless steel to produce high performance industrial heaters. The thick film heaters provide very fast temperature response and uniformity on a low-profile heater. Thick film heaters are ideal for applications where space is limited, where conventional heaters can't be used, when heat output needs vary across the surface, or in ultra-clean or aggressive chemical applications.

Tubular Heaters

Watlow's WATROD tubular heater elements and flat FIREBAR elements are designed primarily for direct immersion in liquids such as water, oils, solvents and process solutions, molten materials as well as air and gases. By generating all the heat within the liquid or process, these heaters are virtually 100 percent energy efficient. These versatile heaters can also be formed and shaped into various geometries for radiant heating and contact surface heating applications. UL® and CSA component recognized elements available.


Watlow also manufactures their own sensors and controls. The new line of EZ-Zone heaters is state of the art. The Watlow sensor plant can deliver custom sensors within a week or less.





Examples of Watlow controllers are :

Integrated Controllers

Watlow has released four revolutionary integrated controller products: the EZ-ZONE® PM panel mount controller, the EZ-ZONE ST integrated control loop, the EZ-ZONE RM multi-loop integrated controller and the EHG SL10 process controller and safety limit. All of these modular products combine multiple functions into one integrated control system leading to:
Fewer components
Fewer aggravations
These products give you the ability to utilize just one component. These products' advanced designs give you the ability to add or subtract modulars as your requirements change.

Single-Loop PID Controllers

All Watlow single-loop auto-tuning temperature and time/temperature profiling controllers are available in 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4 DIN sizes. Agency-approved Watlow single-loop, auto-tuning temperature controllers automatically set PID control parameters for optimum system performance. Manual settings also permit on-off, P, PI or PID control modes.
Watlow's time/temperature profiling (ramping) controllers set new standards of performance. All are available with a broad range of industry standard I/O and communication options.
All Watlow single-loop controllers are designed and manufactured to withstand harsh industrial environments and come with a three-year warranty for CONTROL CONFIDENCE®. These single-loop PID controllers are complete with auto-tune for easy setup and both compatible for environmental chamber and semiconductor manufacturing applications.


Multi-Loop PID Controllers

All Watlow® multi-loop time/temperature controllers offer auto-tuning which automatically sets PID control parameter for optimum system performance. Watlow’s multi-loop controllers feature manual settings permitting on-off, P, PI or PID control modes.
With up to 32 control loops, Watlow PID controllers deliver the options and performance demanded by complex process applications. Each time/temperature controller offers a wide range of I/O options with exceptional accuracy. Inputs can be multiple and mixed, including thermocouple, RTD and process. Multiple job/recipe storage makes batch setups fast. Versatile alarms, serial communications and remote operation or data logging round out the features.
These Watlow multi-loop controllers are designed and manufactured to withstand harsh industrial environments, and come with a three-year warranty for CONTROL CONFIDENCE®.

Limits/Alarms

Watlow® single- and multi-loop limits/alarm controllers provide a low-cost solution for single- and multi-channel, redundant temperature monitoring. These limits and alarms can continuously monitor thermocouples, RTDs or thermal switches. Agency approved performance in safety limit applications, including UL®, CSA, A.G.A. and FM (on some models). All are available with industry standard I/O options. All Watlow limit/alarm controllers are designed and manufactured to withstand harsh industrial environments, and come with a three-year warranty for CONTROL CONFIDENCE®.


Power Switching Controllers

Watlow solid state power controllers complement the rapid switching required by PID temperature controls and help deliver optimum system performance and service life. Available in 1-phase and 3-phase/2-leg and 3-leg configuration, Watlow power controllers meet most industrial heating applications. Random, zero cross or phase angle fire options allow for a variety of applications.


Thermocouples

Watlow provides more than 80 years of manufacturing, research and quality for your temperature sensing needs. A tremendous stock of general application, mineral insulated, base and noble metal thermocouples are available.
Hundreds of thermocouples are available as part of our Rapid Ship sensor program. These sensors are shipped directly to you in one or two days.
Watlow also has three new surface temperature sensors. The MICROCOIL™, radio frequency thermocouple probe and true surface thermocouples all incorporate isothermal physical principles to achieve superior surface temperature measurement. The isothermal design provides accurate sensing because the areas of the temperature sensor that are exposed to normal process variances are positioned outside the thermal gradient.


RTDs and Thermistors

Watlow's platinum resistance elements are specially designed to ensure precise and repeatable temperature versus resistance measurements. The sensors are made with controlled purity platinum wire and high purity ceramic components. They are constructed in a unique, strain-free manner.
Several RTD styles are available in the recently revamped Rapid Ship sensors program. These sensors are delivered straight to you in one to two days.