Water heater

One of the main characteristics of a storage water heater is the volume of the internal tank. A preliminary calculation of water consumption will allow you to choose the model of the desired size. Let us warn you right away that this is not an easy task.

See online calculator - Power Heating Calculator.

You will have to consider how many people live at home, how often they take a bath, whether it happens at different times of the day or at the same hours (morning and evening). Let's arrange these variables and offer solutions for different situations.

What criteria influence the choice?

The number of people living in the house. The more users, the more volume you buy a water heater. Otherwise, you will have to wash one by one, at intervals of 2-2.5 hours.
The main consumers of water. A 6–17 liter model is sufficient for washing hands in the bathroom. Boilers with a capacity of 20-30 liters are installed in the kitchen. For a bathroom with a shower, a water heater of 50–90 liters is enough. If you want to regularly take a full bath, take care of buying a giant for 150-180 liters.
How intensively will it be used? There is a significant difference between washing dishes rarely and taking a forced bath in a row by all family members.
Season. Hot water in apartments is turned off in summer. If you plan to use the equipment only in such cases, it is permissible to choose a less powerful compact model. If the boiler is operated year-round, the performance requirements will increase. An important point - in private houses, the temperature of cold water is usually lower, since it comes from a well.

How to choose a water heater by volume?

Calculate the volume of the water heater based on the number of people in the family:

10-30 liters - 1-2 people;
50–80 liters - 2-3 people;
100-150 liters - 3-4 people.
These recommendations are approximate and depend on how many liters of water the family consumes during the active period (morning or evening). The volume of the tank should be enough for one shower and for basic hygiene procedures (washing, brushing teeth). At the same time, it is desirable that a small margin of 10-15% remain.

The figures are approximate and vary greatly depending on the culture of consumption and the number of plumbing fixtures connected to the boiler. For a clearer understanding of the picture, we present calculation schemes using the example of a shower and a bath.

How much water does it take to shower?

It is estimated that an average of 30 liters of hot water is wasted per shower. The number grows in direct proportion to the number of family members. For two people, you will need a boiler with a volume of 50–80 liters, and so on.

How much water do you need to take a bath?

To fill a medium sized bathtub, you need at least 150 liters of warm water. For simplicity of calculations, it is assumed that warm water is obtained by mixing 50% cold and 50% hot water. This means that one bath takes 150: 2 = 75 liters. If you choose an end-to-end boiler, you will have to take a bath, planning this action in advance. Otherwise, one person will use up the entire volume of the tank, and the rest will have to wait 1.5–2 hours until the water heats up again.

On a note!

When choosing a boiler, we recommend staying on a model with a margin. So you can not heat the contents of the tank to 80-90 degrees, but immediately use warm water. To do this, set the heating temperature to 40-50 degrees. The water in the tank will cool down less, so you will immediately notice the energy savings.

Editorial advice: how to save water when using a boiler?
To ensure that there is enough water in the tank for the maximum goals, follow simple rules. They seem obvious, but in real life many people forget about them. We remind you.

Turn off the water when not in use. For example, when you lather a washcloth in the shower or wash the dishes using a detergent.

Have washed the dishes - pause. This will allow you to recover the volume of hot water before taking a bath or shower.

Look for a technician with a temperature stabilizer. It will be better if the water heater resumes operation automatically when the temperature of the water in the tank drops.

So much less electricity will be spent on heating.

Good tank insulation - yes. A dense layer of thermal insulation and thick boiler walls reduce heat loss. This means that the water heater will use less energy to maintain the water temperature.

Accelerated heating mode. There are models of boilers with two heating elements. With the simultaneous operation of two heating elements, a full large tank heats up in 30-60 minutes. If there is no need for urgent preparation of a portion of hot water, select the basic mode - it is more economical in energy consumption.