You’re in the market for a new tank water heater. You either want to replace the aging water heater currently in your home, or you’re moving in a new home that doesn’t have a water heater yet. Whatever the case, you’ll have plenty of questions about buying a new water heater. A major one is how big the water heater needs to be. Too small, and your household won’t receive sufficient hot water. Too big, and you’ll have a massive energy wasting appliance on your hands.
You shouldn’t worry about making the choice. Properly sizing a tank water heater is something to leave to plumbing professionals. They’ll make the calculations to determine the size and type of water heater to meet your family’s hot water demands without draining your bank account.
How Professionals Size a Tank Water Heater
To find the right size of water heater for a given household, installers need to know two important things. The first is the first hour rating. You can probably guess what this means: how many gallons of hot water the tank can deliver over an hour starting with a full tank. This rating combines other important data, such as the tank capacity, the energy source used for heat, and the power of the heating source.
The other information the installed need to know is peak hour demand. This is how many gallons of water your household uses during the hour of the day when there’s the largest hot water demand. (Usually, this is in the morning.) When the installers know this, they match it to the first hour rating of the water heater. A peak hour demand of 36 gallons means putting in a water heater with a first hour rating of 34 to 38.
If you’re looking for installation of a new tank water heater in Cincinnati, OH, you’ve found the right people. We not only install tank water heaters, we also work with an excellent alternative, the tankless water heater.
Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. serves Cincinnati and the surrounding areas. Schedule water heater service with us!