Keep The Hot Water Flowing With A Point Of Use Water Heater
There are many situations where a point of use water heater would be very handy. For example, in an older home with an already overtaxed hot water heating system, you can provide some relief on the main hot water system by installing point of use hot water heaters.
Another instance would be if you needed to install a small sink in an out-of-the-way area of your home which is located some distance away from your existing hot water lines. Rather than running a new hot water line extension to this location, a point of use water heater can be installed underneath the sink -- this will allow you to have both hot and cold running water from just a single water pipe source.
One of the important things to keep in mind about any point of use water heater system is that it cannot provide great quantities of hot water, nor can it provide great quantities of hot water for long periods of time. The reason for this is that a point of use hot water heater must actually take water at its normal temperature and heat it on a continuous basis as it flows through the unit. This means that in a given time period, a point of use hot water heater has a maximum limit to how much water it can heat, and to what degree of temperature.
Another thing to consider when you are evaluating point of use hot water heaters is their overall size. You need to make sure that your point of use hot water heater unit will fit in the available space. Another issue with a point of use system is where it will draw its power to heat the water.
For example, if your point of use water heater is designed to be plugged into a standard wall outlet, such an outlet will need to be located near the location where you want to install it. On the other hand, if your point of use water heater requires a hardwired connection, then you will either have to splice it into your existing household wiring, or pay someone else to do it.
A big design consideration with any point of use water heater is whether you will need it to provide hot water on its own, as a stand-alone system, or whether you want it to operate in conjunction with your existing hot water system. In some homes, point of use water heater systems are used to supplement hot water which is drawn from the main supply.
A final consideration of a point of use water heater is the storage capacity of the water supply tank. A point of use water heater with a bigger storage container is useful when you need to draw hot water in a greater quantity -- for example, to fill an entire sink for hand washing laundry, or doing dishes. The point of use water heaters with much smaller storage tanks will not be as quick or as efficient in filling these larger receptacles -- so consider carefully what you'll need this hot water outlet for.
