Besides air conditioning, most household owners will definitely purchase a water heating system. You need to determine the right size of tank to use for your solar hot water systems because if you have chosen an under-size unit, you will not be having enough hot water in your storage, while an over-size unit will cause more expenses to your budget. In order to choose the right tank size for your solar hot water, below are some of the tips and information that may help you in deciding on the best material for your house.
What you need:
- Use a calculator to estimate your tank size
Method:
- The most important thing to do is to use a calculator in order for you to estimate on the tank size to be used for your water heater. Calculation also needs to take into consideration of your normal period hours of usage daily without counting the usage when you are having guests.
- The basis of calculation used for tank-less heaters is the total maximum gallons of water per minute (GPM) and the temperature rise.
- As for Storage-tank heaters, solar or heat-pump heaters, you can calculate it by using the First Hour Rating, or the amount of hot water which the heater produces within an hour of time.
- In order to calculate the estimation of your specific water usage, you can use the calculation of GPM of your fixtures and appliances and then input it into the calculator. Besides that, for an accurate estimation of your heater size you can always hire an experienced plumber for more detailed consultation.
Additional Reading:
http://www.azsolarcenter.org/tech-science/solar-for-consumers/solar-hot-water/solar-hot-water-a-primer.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_heating
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/heating-cooling-and-air/water-heaters/waterheater-tips-205-gas-hot-water-heater-electric-hot-water-heater/overview/index.htm
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjl20/294102918/
