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Design Review: Volume 3, Issue 6 (May-June 1951)

Hot Water… The Domestic Problem

page 145

Hot Water… The Domestic Problem

No modern home is complete without an efficient hot water service. In this respect most New Zealand homes are by world standards particularly well equipped with hot water on tap to kitchen sink, laundry, bath and wash hand basin — some include a hot shower. The problem is to provide a really satisfactory flow of hot water for all these purposes as often as it is needed. The question arises when a new home is being planned or when renovations are under consideration.

First, the method by which the water will be heated: availability of fuel, gas or electric power, and their relative cost are factors which influence decision on which method of heating is to be adopted. Often an alternative system is required to supplement inadequate or unreliable service. The question of running cost is important enough to justify careful investigation of the local situation, as fuel costs and gas and electricity tariffs vary considerably according to locality.

The following notes deal with waterheating equipment used in New Zealand homes at the present time and normally stocked by tradespeople. Space allows only a passing reference to installation practice, although a satisfactory layout and good plumbing work are just as important as good equipment.

Solid Fuel Waterheaters

These appliences use coal, coke or ‘brickettes’, which must be stored by the user to be burnt in a device that requires a flue (often situated in the most inconvenient places). Provided the labour and incovenience of occasional stoking is not considered an intolerable burden, the modern welldesigned fuel appliance is an asset in the home. Modern equipment is economical and reliable and will provide adequate supplies of hot water to meet all domestic needs. A fuel-fired appliance radiates heat. This may prove a nuisance in summer, but is a distinct advantage in winter. It is then that the fuel heaters operate at their highest efficiency. For this reason they are particularly favoured in the colder districts and are also in popular demand during times of electricity shortage and when gas supplies are low.

Where cooking is carried out in a fuel range a high-pressure boiler and storage cylinder are almost invariably installed, but increasingly this arrangement is displaced by an independent boiler or incinerator if electricity or gas is available for cooking. Often supplementary gas or electric waterhatign will also be available, and such a dual service provides a conveninent combination. Such a system must be properly installed to ensure efficient operation. Improvements in the design of heating stoves have resulted in the production of ‘slow combustion’ stoves. They may be bought with boiler for hot water supply, and provide an easily regulated fire that both warms the home and heats water very efficiently. They are much to be preferred to the open fireplace with ‘wet back’ boiler now condemned by the best authorities for their wasteful use of fuel.

Gas Waterheaters

Gas-fired waterheaters share to a certain extent with solid fuel heaters the disadvantage of having to be used with a flue. Low consumption flueless heaters (burning about ten cubic feet per hour) can be installed in most rooms provided care is taken to secure adequate ventilation, but large multipoint heaters require flues and often cannot be put in a position where pipe losses are reduced to a minimum. Heaters of the single point type have open outlets and consequently can be connected direct to the cold water main, but supply hot water to only one point. Multi-point instataneous heaters, on the other hand, will supply hot water to kitchen and bathroom taps and are automatic in their operation, being controlled by the operation of any tap. Gas circulators may be fitted to operate independently or in conjunction with fuel-heated storage cylinders. These are also automatic, being controlled by thermostat operated by the temperature of the water in the cylinder. Generally it is advisable that all gas appliances be provided with a proper flue with a baffle on top of the heater where the flue connection is made.

Electric Waterheaters

As far as combustion is concerned, electric waterheaters have none of the difficulties associated with solid fuel and gas heaters. Since the electric heating element is totally immersed in water, the efficiency is high and automatic control is a relatively simple matter. Moreover, electric waterheaters are completely safe, as there are no flame fire hazard or fumes. They may be operated without attention and can be left to look after themselves entirely. The storage type of heater is most commonly employed in New Zealand and can be put in any convenient point close to where hot water is most often required. The popular method is to instal the cylinder in the linen cupboard, for although the cylinder is well lagged to conserve heat and enclosed in a metal case, just enough heat escapes to esure a dry warm cupboard entirely suitable for line storage.

Smaller unit heaters for installation either under or over bench to supply hot water at isolated points are readily available and in popular use. Where required these may be automatically controlled and left switched on indefinitely to provide hot water whenver required. These are ideal heaters to use where a supplementary service is required at the kitchen sink when the existing hot water supply is unsatisfactory. There are several available, each with their specil field of usefulness. One of the most popular is the boiling type unit with sight glass feed which enables the housewife to heat up just the amount of water she requires page 146 without waste. These heaters can be installed with a delivery pipe to tap over the sink and additional hot taps can be fitted at other adjacent points if desired. Boiling water for making tea, etc., is drawn direct from a special tea-tap at the base of the heater. A warning whistle draws the housewife's attention to the fact that boiling water is on tap. Larger models can be fitted with safety features such as automatic water shut-off valves to prevent accidental flooding, and a steam cut-off valve will shut the power off should the heater be inadvertently left switched on. Boiling water facilities can be provided in the case of thermostatically controlled waterheaters when a second ‘booster’ element is fitted to heat quickly a small quantity of water (about three pints) when a Push to Boil button is held in the ‘on’ position for about ten seconds. Under-bench heaters are of the ‘push through’ open outlet type, supplying water to one point only. Practically all electric waterheaters available today are New Zealand-made and are of excellent quality and give good service at a very reasonable cost.

Cheap hydro electric power available in New Zealand has stimulated the use of electricity for waterheating until 32% of the total units generated are now being used for this purpose alone. It is to be hoped that the development of New Zealand's hydro electric resources. will be sufficient to satisfy the continued use of electricity for this very essential domestic service.