It is a well known fact that an improperly sized water heater can either be a waste of energy or cannot adequately provide hot water for your needs. Therefore, it is important that you choose the right size of water heater before purchasing and installing it in your home or office.
Each type water heater is sized differently. Tankless or demand type water heaters are sized according to flow rate and temperature rise. Solar water heating systems, on the other hand, are sized with collector area and storage volume in consideration. Water heaters with tank are sized according to their first hour rating.
HOW TO SIZE A TANKLESS WATER HEATER
First off, obtain the flow rates by determining the amount of gallons per minute of all hot water devices expected to be used at the same time. Add everything and you have the flow rate.
Next, obtain the temperature rise by subtracting the incoming water temperature from the desired output temperature. If you do not have any idea how much the incoming water temperature is, just assume the value at 50 deg F.
HOW TO SIZE A SOLAR WATER HEATER
Sizing a solar water heater is quite complicated. Collector area is calculated by assigning 20 square feet for each of the first two family members. Additional family members equals 12 to 14 square feet for those living in the northern US. Eight square feet is assigned for those located in the southern US (Sun Belt area).
Storage volume depends upon the number of family members or users. It also depends upon the size of the collector. Typically, there must be 1.5 gallons of storage tank per square foot of collector. However, for those living in sunny climates, the storage volume must be increase to two gallons per square foot of collector to prevent overheating in case the demand for hot water decreases.
HOW TO SIZE A WATER HEATER WITH TANK
A water heater with tank can be sized by getting the heater’s first hour rating. This is obtained by determining the number of gallons a water tank can supply in an hour starting with a full tank. Your firs hour rating should be equivalent to one or two gallons of peak hour demand.
To determine your peak hour demand, note down the number of people in your home and the time of the day where demand for hot water is busiest. Include your overall household usage – shower, clothes washing, dishwashing, food preparation, handwashing and other miscellaneous water usage. List down the number of gallons used for each activity and multiply each to the number of times used during an hour. Add everything and you have the total peak hour demand.
TOO COMPLICATED?
If these sound too complicated for you, contact First Class HVAC and we can help you with your needs. Our trained staff are well-equipped with the knowledge in Lewes Beach heating maintenance, Lewes Beach heating replacement, Lewes Beach heating repair, Milford heating services, Middletown heating replacement, Fenwick heating maintenance, Rehoboth Beach heating replacement, Milford heating maintenance, Milford heating replacement, Rehoboth Beach heating installation, Rehoboth heating repair, Fenwick heating repair, Rehoboth heating installation, Bear heating installation, Delaware heating and cooling, Rehoboth Beach heating maintenance, Rehoboth Beach heating repair services, Lewes Beach heating services, Lewes heating installation, Rehoboth Beach heating services, Bethany Beach heating replacement, Beach heating system repair, Bethany Beach heating services, Lewes heating system repair, Lewes heating replacement, Rehoboth heating services, Bethany Beach heating installation, Bethany Beach heating system repair, Bethany heating replacement and heating installation Sussex County DE.
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