Electric water heating system: which is the best?

January 3rd, 2013 by Shaun Day

Sometimes, the choice of an electric water heating system can be much more difficult than you thought, that's why here, at HSDonline, we've decided to bring to light everything you need to know before purchasing. An standard electric water heater can have 1 or 2 heating elements according to the hot water that you may need and can be fitted in every room of your home if the installation rules are correctly applied. As a sanitary warm water system, the water heater is practical and quite reliable. If the hot water electric production doesn't suit your request, you can opt for a gas water heater, thermodynamic water heater or even a solar water heater.

electric water heating

Electric water heating: 3 types of system

There are 3 categories:

Storage electric water heating
Immediate electric water heating
Low capacity electric water heating

The following table shows the characteristics of each type of electric water heater:


*- Immediate Water Heaters* -**	*- Electric Water Storage Heaters* -**	*- Low Capacity Water Heaters* -**

HOW IT WORKS?	HOW IT WORKS?	HOW IT WORKS?
The hot water is produced when you ask for it and therefore the water is not stored in a tank like the electric water storage heater	It's composed of a tank whose resistance and thermostat are purely electric. The warm water is at the top of the tank and in opposition, the cold is at the bottom of the tank.	It's permanently working, making sure that the warm water is available and it's regulated by a thermostat. These heaters are quite small and can be installed on a wall in specific areas.

CAPACITY?	CAPACITY?	CAPACITY?
These water heaters are reserved to feed only one water source (E.g.: a shower). Because of their small size, they've got a limited flow: 3 or 4 litres at 40°C/min.	Huge capacity: more than 50 litres	They've got a really small capacity, between 10 and 50 litres, and deliver a power equivalent to 900 W to 2000 W.

ADVANTAGES?	ADVANTAGES?	ADVANTAGES?
Easy to fit in a room.	The water is warmed up in 6 to 8 hours. These heaters can be set to not warm the water when you're working, this saves money on your bill.	Their advantages are to quickly produce warm water without wasting the water as it's often installed at the top or bottom of a sink.

INCONVENIENCES?	INCONVENIENCES?	INCONVENIENCES?
They love energy, around 6000 W for a standard model and therefore will make your bill heavy.	If you set to warm up the water when you're not there, it's not possible to warm up some more if you ever need it.	It's not recommended for daily utilisation.

Water heaters: where to install them?

The electric water heating system can be installed anywhere in your home:

In humid rooms : the installation is strict and needs to be done well
In dry rooms: the water heater needs to be accessible in case of any intervention.

There are several different types: vertical, horizontal, wall mounted.

Choosing an electric water heater: requirements

Requirements and Certifications... The water heater needs to be adapted to the exact requirements of your home:

if the water heater’s capacity is too big this will result in much higher heating costs
If the water heater’s capacity is too low, you won't have enough warm water for your daily requirements

Electric water heater: rules and certifications

In order to choose your water heater, you must check that your heater is stamped ''ISO''. To ensure the security and safety of the users, the ISO certification targets the following criteria:

the electrical safety
the quality of material
the mechanical strengths
the overall smooth running of the electrical appliance

Electric water heater and the energy consumed

The process is the same when you are choosing an economic panel heater to equip your home, you need to think about which energy to choose before purchasing your electric water heater. Having a regulated temperature allows you to reduce the consummation and therefore will decrease the running costs.

Electric water storage heater

You can opt for a water heater producing continuous warm water up to 100 Litres and sometimes more. Beyond that, it's recommended to opt for an off-peak hour heating system:

the off-peak hour option allows you to benefit of a reduced the KWh 's price of approximately 40% less than the current standard price.
if you need some warm water, you can manually set the warming up program during on-peak periods.

attention However, if you have irregular warm water requirements, the best option is to opt for a special water heater, composed of two heating systems:

the first one heats a part of the water in the tank, or all the water.
the second one will work during off-peak hours.

To save money on your bill, choose your electric water heating system according to its energy. This is a crucial point to consider in your purchase...

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Comments

John Slater says:

Aug 16th, 2017 at 8:56 am

I want to install an electric hot water system in a small two bedroomed terraced house, the hot water will need to supply a small bath with possibly an over bath shower, a wash basin and a kitchen sink ( the kitchen sink could possibly have a seperate water heater which is at present used to supply the wash basin and kitchen sink) at present there is no bath in the house only an electric shower. The bathroom is small so I am restricted to 1200 x 700 bath, I would like to install the unit in the roof space if this is permissible.

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