Water Heater Applications

Heating of water is considered the second largest cost of energy next to heat/air conditioning systems in the home and whether your home uses electricity, gas, or liquid propane gas, water heaters are designed to help you meet the hot water demands of your household. Water heaters are gas, oil or electric-fired devices that heat water for residential or commercial use with gas heaters tending to be more common for larger flow rates.

The function of the water heater is to raise the temperature of water and They come in a variety of sizes for different applications, such as a whole-house water heater, a hot water source for a remote bathroom or hot tub, or as a boiler to provide hot water for a home heating system. Energy is transferred into the body of water in the heater just as if someone put a flame beneath a pan of water on a stove.

Gas released from the bowels of the earth with crude oil contains a lot of energy, some of which is harnessed to run a water heater. The energy stored up in propane and electricity can also heat water under certain conditions. The scarcity of propane and the cost of electrical energy generation neutralize their cost effectiveness in powering water heaters compared to natural gas.

Gas is burned and releases heat that passes through the burner under the tank of the water heater and eventually warms the water. The wall holds a valve that opens and shuts to control the flow of gas into the water heater. Devising a means by which the temperature in a heater is controlled by the aid of a thermostat was a good idea of the manufacturers.

The ignition is done by a pilot light. The device known as the gas grill is a fair enough illustration of how this works. It is imperative to have a vent system installed as part of the heater to relieve it of burnt up fumes. To complete the vent is the PVC pipe seated firmly on the roof, receiving and discharging the used up fumes.

The heater is now improved to such a point that a fan that forces fumes out through the wall supports its venting system. Gas is not the only non solid component that works with a gas water heater; water does too. Appliances receive water from the cylinder shaped tank through the pipe network and water valve system attached to the water heater after the water has been heated.

Mainly for the purpose of variety, there are also versions of the water heater without a tank. When you turn on the hot water tap of a tankless water heater, the water you get has journeyed through a number of burners and can now be used with a washing machine or a dishwasher. The operation of a tankless heater is different from that of the regular gas water heater.

One such difference is that this design enables it to supply heated water endlessly. Being an improvement on the old prototype, manufacturers made it a prerogative to save energy with the new heater. The one flaw of this design is the length of time it takes for the water to heat up as heating does not begin until the tap is opened. Water is stored in the tank of a gas heater, meaning that a tankless heater does not have the means to do so. Heating of water is all that a tankless gas water heater does, in addition to passing the heated water along to appliances for consumption.