Home Hot Water Systems

Heating the water in your home

Choosing the right hot water system for your new home is important. Not only are they expensive to install, but they can be costly to run. It’s also frustrating if you frequently can’t get hot water for your shower or bath, so the hot water system in your home must be efficient, effective and suitable for the number of occupants in the house.

Types of home hot water systems

​There are various types of home hot water systems which include:

• Electric storage, which uses a heating element inside a tank to heat the water, similar to an electric kettle. These are the most expensive to operate since they keep the whole tank of water at constant temperature, even when hot water isn’t being used.
• Heat pumps are efficient water heaters that extract heat from the air to heat water. They can use less than one third the electricity of electric storage water heaters. Heat pumps can operate effectively in temperatures as low as -10C (14F).
• Continuous flow gas water heaters heat water only when it’s needed. Gas may be piped from an external utility supplier or from refillable bottles.

• Gas storage unit heaters are similar to electric storage, but use gas.
• Continuous flow electric heaters which heat water when it’s needed.
• Solar. Depending on your climate, a substantial portion of your family’s hot water needs could be provided from the sun’s energy. To supplement the sun on cloudy days, or when household demand is high, solar heaters can have either electric or gas boosting. Solar systems have both the collectors and storage tank mounted on the roof, or they’re split, with the storage tank located at ground level. 

What to consider when selecting home hot water systems

When selecting your system some important factors to consider include:

• Household size. Remember to consider your family’s size in the future – you don’t want to be installing a bigger system in 10 years’ time because there’re more people living in the house.
• The cost. Consider not only the price of the system and installation, but also the operating costs over the life of the system, which will be far in excess of the original purchase price.
• Planning or building controls that limit solar panels being placed on roofs.
• Your local climate, or shading from neighbouring trees or buildings, may limit solar access to your roof.
• The available energy sources. Natural gas may not be available in your area.
• When tank storage systems are used, then note that they’re bulky. This impacts where they’re installed and when they’re installed in the building process. If large tanks are placed in the roof space they may need to be installed before the roof or ceiling are completed. Full tanks often weigh several hundred kilograms so the roof must be able to support the tanks.
• Gas heaters should be installed outside, or they must have a flue to to vent excess gas

Image by Joe Garma from Pixabay

Selecting the right hot water system

It's important to select the right hot water system for your new home, or when renovating and remodelling your home. Systems which are too small for your household will be frustrating and inconvenient. Some systems may have cheaper installation costs, but there running costs may be higher which in the long run may make them more expensive.

There are many factors to consider, and what is the right solution for one family, one house, or in a different location, may not be the best choice for your circumstances now.
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Always take into account future changes - future changes to your household, changes in technology, and of course changes in the type of available energy sources and the cost of energy in the future.
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Consult experts and don't be swayed by salespersons to go for a system they are pushing.

Other useful articles
​Bathroom Design Essentials - What You Should Consider When Designing, Building and Renovating Your Ultimate Bathroom - Part 1
Choosing lights for your new home
How to make your home green and environmentally friendly and save money
Other Resources
​Build and Renovate your Home

​This is an extract from the author's book  'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 2 - Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home' 
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

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Want to learn more about designing, renovating and building houses?

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
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These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

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