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Home
> Propane and Natural Gas Water Heaters
Gas Hot Water Heaters
Gas powered tank and tankless water heating systems
Gas hot water heaters are the high efficient systems, definitely a good choice for the price when buying a brand new water heater. Even if you already have an electric, you might want to switch to gas water heater, because of all the benefits and savings natural gas or propane water heating brings.
Natural gas or propane - LP
Either you are buying a tank-type or gas tankless water heater you can use both natural gas and propane - LP, as long as you have this fuel available. The location of the gas hot water heaters in the home may be restricted by access to the fuel supply line.To run propane water heaters, you need liquid propane, LP, storage tank and regular fuel delivery. The performance is similar to natural gas water heaters.
When comparing natural gas vs. propane, or LP, energy factor EF is almost the same for most brands of gas heaters.
When using natural gas as a fuel option, you can also have a common heating unit that provides heating for your home and hot water delivery.
In both cases, both tank type and tankless gas heaters produce hot water very quickly.
Selecting a gas water heater - Things to consider
Determine
the size
you need. Free standing, storage or tank gas hot water heaters are usually installed in a designated room, while tankless, such as the popular Rinnai R75LSi
, because of
its small size and venting
options, almost
anywh, because of
its small size and venting
options, almost
anywhere; but the best is in places close to the point
of use.The popular sizes of tank type gas hot water heaters are 40 gallon
and 50 gallon as they are
sufficient for a family of 4-6 and middle size homes with up to two,
three bathrooms.Select the best venting option. Another important factor when buying gas hot water heaters, when installing or troubleshooting, is options for venting.
When gas water heater is running, it requires an air for combustion and igniting, where air can be used either from the household or the air from outside. On the other side, it is also important and for safety reason, conveying the flue outside, either by natural draft or by powered vents.
Venting:
- Conventional, atmospheric vent is using chimney.
- Direct vent, no chimney and blower needed, it vents directly out the wall.
- Power vent is like direct vent but with a help of electrically power vent - blower.
Gas versus electric water heaters
- Heating with gas is twice as faster than electric units.
- Higher recovery rate. 50-gallon gas hot water heater has the average recovery rate of 80-90 while electric 50-gallon size has recovery rate of approximately 60 gallon per hour.
- It costs less to operate than electric units.
- They are high efficient by design.
- There is a variety of products, from tank heaters, to tankless and combination of gas fired burners and tank type heaters.
- Electric heaters - no need for vent.
Money saving tip: If gas hot water heaters are expensive for you, you can always rent one. With renting, you have peace of mind and if anything goes wrong with your gas water heater you are covered with parts and service.
If planning to switch from existing heating system to the new, using a natural gas or propane, consider next:
- It is easy to convert to natural gas hot water heater.
- If there is no chimney, direct or power vented heaters are your best bet.
- If you already have a chimney, it has to be checked by professional, to clean it and maybe resize it, or you can use direct or power vent option.
- It is also very easy to replace an existing and old natural gas water heater with a newer one, but first check venting options you have.
- Older heaters are less energy efficient.
Tank type gas hot water heaters - Main parts
- Tank to store the water.
- Glass lining for metal tank protection against corrosion.
- Draft hood
- Flue Tube
- Anode Rod for protection against corrosion.
- Burner
- Combustion chamber
- Pilot light or electrode
- Blower on power units
When comparing gas water heater parts vs. electric, you will see that gas heaters, both tank type and tankless have much more components where some of them are complex and expensive, like the valve or venting on tankless units.
Gas hot water heaters - How tank type works
When you open a hot water tap, water is drawn off the top of the tank through the hot water outlet. At the same time cold water enters from the bottom through the dip tube.
Thermostat senses the cooler water and turns on the gas at the gas valve and the burner that is mounted at the base of the tank. Thermocouple as a safety element sends the signal to gas valve to open only if there is a presence of a pilot flame.
More tips when shopping for gas hot water heaters
One third of energy in your home is accounted for water heating, while showers alone use as much as one-third of all household water. When buying a gas hot water heater, look for one with high energy factor - EF.
Tip: Check out the Energy Factor, EF. If EF is 0.82 or higher on tankless heaters or 0.67 on tank type we are talking about high efficiency heaters. They have a blue tag with a name Energy Star on it. If you buy one Energy Star unit there is a rebate through the government tax credit grants.
Energy factor is used to express the efficiency of natural gas, propane and oil fired heaters; higher better. Don't forget that when selecting an oversize tank heater the energy cost goes up as the standby loss increases.
Which gas water heater to buy?
If
looking to buy the best tank-type gas heater, buy
AO Smith GDHE-50-NG Vertex 100My recommendation for tankless condensing water heaters is Rinnai RC80HPi
that comes
with the great EF factor of over 0.9.In a case of the electric water heaters, only heat pumps, such as RHEEM HP50RH and GE GeoSpring are Energy Star qualified.
Recommendation is to buy high efficiency that provides higher quality, better warranties and it pays off on the long run.
- The capacity of gas water tank heaters is based on the number of gallons that will fit in the tank.
- Tankless models are rated by how many gallons of hot water they produce per minute (GPM). With more applications comes the higher GPM. Here is how much an average home spends hot water.
- Clothes washer - 3.3 GPM
- Shower and bathtub - 2.5 GPM
- Kitchen and bathroom sink - 2.2 GPM
- Dishwasher - 1.3 GPM
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How to reduce heating operating costs, installation tips and safety tips on heaters using natural gas.
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About heating on propane or LP. Top rated propane heaters.
Gas water heater installation - Tips on installing a water heater for maximum heating performance.
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