I’ve researched for hours and am a bit confused with how to decipher the language, lacking context/background knowledge.
Thank you!
(I need a new water heater, wanting to go from tank to tankless. Its currently in the house under the stairs of bottom floor (no basement), 2.5 bathrooms in use (3rd no one uses much), 4 people, 3 story townhome, of any of this info is relevant… not asking for opinion just how it all works)
In: Engineering
Have you ever cooked pasta in a pot of boiling water?
They work like that.
For conventional tanked version:
There is a heating element(either a flame if the heater is gas powered or an electric coil if the heater is electric powered) at the bottom of the tank(generally heaters in homes are around 50 gallons capacity) and a thermometer linked to a computer that decides whether the water is the right temperature or if the heating element needs to be turned on.
The tank is generally well insulated so once the water is brought to the correct temperature(usually in the 105 degree f range but they can generally be customized) it takes minimal energy to maintain the temperature. The heating element is generally designed to heat the water over a long period so uses less energy but you can “run out” of hot water if you use the full 50 gallons all at once.
Edit: for tankless the heating element is generally much more powerful because it is heating the water as you turn on the tap. This means that, generally, the amount of energy needed to run the heater is inversely proportional to the amount of hot water you use.
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