IntelEfficient

Promoting Efficiency and Sustainability through the Intelligent use of Energy and Information

  • Imagine the days when, if you needed hot water, you put a kettle or pot (or several of each) on the stove and heated as much water as you needed.  Of course, you may also have needed to add some fuel to the fire, assuming it was already going.  I suspect this was a strong motivator to be conservative in our use of hot water!

    As our domestic appliances advanced, we developed a hot water storage tank, where we could use an appropriately-sized storage tank to meet the demands of the home or business.  The water in the tank is kept heated to a preset temperature, usually around 120 degrees for normal use, using either an electric heating element or a burner fueled by natural gas.  As water is drawn from the tank for showers or washing, fresh cold water is drawn into the tank and the whole tank is heated to maintain that set temperature.  Tanks vary in size, usually from 40 to 60 gallons, but for larger homes larger or multiple tanks may be used. Read the rest of this entry »

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