Re: Reducing power consumption of water heaters

Pluto wrote:
AFAIK, there should be no safety problems.

Likely with properly insulated heaters.

Basically it works like this. It removes a few input power cycles.

That has nothing to do with efficiency other than providing the right amount of power for the water flow (slow flow= few cycles per second applied; fast flow = many cycles applied per second). Use only what you need.

The BIGGEST problem with heated water tanks is that 99% of the time the heated water that you paid for heating - 40 to 60 gallons of it - sits around and does nothing. Inevitably, some heat soaks out and it has to be reheated and nobody's home for much of the day, or sleeping; not needing hot water.

For example - lets say the power input is 220 Volts 50 Hz.
There is a TRIAC within ( electronic switching relay ) , controlled by a microproceesor.

Details unrelated to the pertinent efficiency strategy.

Normally, the cold water flows through the heater coil , absorbs the heat and comes out as hot water.

Yes.

The assumption in this device, is that there is latent heat in the heater coil which is wasted away as radiation and convection, as the water does not have enough time to absorb all its heat.

That's sort of non germane to the efficiency argument.

What you are trying to say is that once the heat is released in the heater coil winding, it still takes time to soak out of the element and into the water. This makes the emergence of heated water to be still not instantaneous. But that sure is better from the efficiency standpoint as compared to the 5 to 30 seconds of fast running cold water coming out of your faucet while the hot water runs up to your faucet. And after your are done, the pipe from the water tank to the faucet is full of hot water that has no place to go. The heat dribbles off into the house structure. Now, when the same heating fuel if used to heat water as is used to heat the house, that deposition of heat into the building structure, especially the floor of your house, is a nice addition. furthermore, the heat easing out of a filled and hot water tank also makes it into the basement, a nice addition to the warmth of the floor in the winter time; in the winter time that is.

In the summertime, especially if you use air conditioning, that heatrelease is a bummer; as you now have to pay for the electricity to pump all that excess heat out of the house.

It is only when you are obliged to heat your water with electricity, and especially if you use air conditioning in the summe (and other months) while you do not have a hot water heater timer and a deal with the local electric company to give you a break on night time power, that the faucet heater, when also consideraing its installation costs, makes a good step toward dollar savings amortized over several years.

Angelo Campanella

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