Electric Hot Water
Using electricity can be a clean, quiet, efficient and convenient way of heating water with electric elements that are in direct contact with the water. Whether it is for small quantities of water from an instantaneous hand wash unit or electric shower or whether it is for larger quantities for general household use, there is a wide variety of products and methods of heating the water economically
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Where smaller, and infrequent quantities of water are required, convenience and space are generally the overriding factors to be considered, so accordingly storage is not required, and the standard rate electricity tariff is used. However, where larger quantities are required, hot water cylinders would be used to store the water, which would generally be heated by utilising available off-peak tariffs. Typically, electricity suppliers offer a 7-hour night tariff, and some may also offer a 10-hour tariff which provides periods of off-peak supply during the day.
Broadly speaking the range of technologies available can be categorised in the following way:
Instantaneous water heater heaters
These are compact space -saving, point-of use units supplying a continuous, unlimited flow of hot water for convenient hand washing, characterised typically by instant hand wash units, inline water heaters or flow boilers.
Stored water heating
Stored water heaters pre-heat a volume of water to a selected temperature over a protracted period during the off- peak period for water cylinders, or over a short period of time for rapid draw -off with smaller capacity over or under- sink units, and are available to suit vented or unvented requirements.
Water boiling units
Formerly only seen in commercial environments the demand for products of this nature to provide instantly available boiling water in domestic kitchens has grown in the form of boiling water taps , supplementing the well established wall -mounted large capacity instant boiling water dispensers and freestanding counter-top urn boilers
Electric Showers
Standard Electric Showers, are suitable for all homes, connect to the cold-water supply and heat water on demand as it passes over a heating element, with variable flow rate and a degree of temperature control. Thermostatic electric showers have pressure stabilised temperature control, and for homes with low water pressure a pumped electric product can give the benefit of an instantaneous shower.
Todays modern lifestyles mean that we are using more hot water than ever before. In our homes we demand more powerful showers, more baths and more basins. With the decarbonisation of the electric grid, electric water heating is able to provide an abundance of hot water in dwellings and commercial premises in an increasingly sustainable , efficient and reliable way
