Electricity on the Increase - Choose a Green product today
Dec
2
Written by:
12/2/2011 5:13 PM
With the rising cost of electricity, gas is one of the alternatives that people are considering, as not only a cost saving for their cooking and hot water, but also for its reliability. Whether you have gas or not is in your control.
Gas water heaters have been on the scene for many years. Like all technology they have advanced so that now they bear little resemblance to and are far more efficient than the older models.
Gone are the days where the units had pilot lights that ate away the gas and had the risk of blowing out and not switching off with the ensuing disaster from gas build ups. The current models use two torch cells to operate and are thoroughly tested and approved by LPGSASA. Without a certificate of approval from them it is illegal to sell a unit in South Africa.
There are two questions I am asked by prospective users, are they safe and are they cheaper than electricity. The answer to both questions is an unreserved YES.
Like an electrical geyser requires a registered electrician to fit it a gas water heater has to be fitted by a registered gas installer. DIY in both instances can lead to disaster. Once correctly fitted however the unit will give you years of trouble free service.
If we take a straight comparison between electrical power cost and gas then at present cost gas appears to be more expensive. This however is not a true reflection of the real cost. A gas water heater only uses gas to heat the water that is used. Unlike electric geysers there is no tank that gets heated and maintained at that temperature, all the time losing heat and thereby money. Also the temperature of the water being used is easily set on gas water heater. This means that you switch on the hot tap and the water coming out does not have to have cold water added. There is something self defeating in using energy to heat water and then adding cold to cool it.
When I am asked why I like gas water heaters I reply there are three main reasons
1. I can set my shower to 40 – 42 degrees where when I turn on the tap I know that I will have the perfect water temperature every time without having to play around with the cold water to get there.
2. It does not matter how many people have showered before you, you do not have to wait for the “geyser” to warm up before you shower.
3. As a home owner with previous experience in this I take comfort in the fact that you do not have a 200 lt geyser of water lying in your ceiling slowly corroding its container just waiting to pour down on you.
A few pointers when considering the purchase of a gas water heater.
Do not think about these in the same way as one thinks about electric geysers. With geysers one used to allow about 50 lt per person to determine the size of the tank i.e. 4 people 200 lt. With gas water heaters think of multiple units each fulfilling its own function. Our recommendations are an 8 lt for the kitchen, a 12 lt for a bathroom with a shower and a 16 lt for one with a bath. 8 lt means a minimum flow rate of8 lt/min.
The reason for not using one large unit to supply the whole house hold is one of operation and economy. Let me explain.
The way the modern units work are that between the water in and the water out there is a diaphragm. When you switch on a tap the water pressure on the water out drops and the diaphragm is pushed towards it. This moves a switch that activates a solenoid switch to open the gas and fire the igniters and voila you have hot water. If you now turn the tap down at a certain point the switch will spring back and the gas will switch off. This can happen if you use a high flow heater on a low flow tap. Also high flow gas water heaters consume more gas and therefore even if you are using a small amount of water such as in a kitchen you will be using more gas than necessary. Your settings on these units will also vary as you will be using much hotter water in the kitchen than in the bathroom.