Water heaters for summer cottages – how to make the right choice

Water heaters for a summer residence

Hot water is one of the main criteria of civilized living conditions with which a reasonable owner of a country house seeks to equip his temporary residence. Each of the manufacturers of equipment that performs water heating now supplies a number of different modifications to the consumer market, allowing you to purchase equipment with the required characteristics and design features. Due to this, the owners of country houses can choose water heaters for summer cottages, which solve the range of tasks necessary for the owner.

Content

• Gas, wood or electric?
• Advantages and disadvantages of flow units
• Accumulative water heaters, pros and cons
• The most attractive equipment for summer residents

A variety of models of water-heating units provides the owners of cottages the opportunity to equip houses with the most rational installation, the choice of which depends on:

• from the availability of the infrastructure network, that is, from the possibility of connecting to centralized gas and electric networks, as well as to the central water supply system, from the likelihood of being connected in the future;
• from the required amount of hot water;
• from the possibility and need to dismantle the equipment before the winter season;
• from power affecting the cost of electric energy, the consumption of gas or firewood;
• from design features, such as, for example, the connection diagram of a water heater in the country, the location of the points of supply and discharge of liquid, the number of points of intake, etc..

Gas, wood or electric?

Depending on the type of construction, water heaters heat water by using electric energy, gas or firewood. The simplest water heaters for summer cottages are wood, they are installed if there are no electric and gas central networks in the area.

The titans operating on the principle of old samovars need regular cleaning and a supply of firewood. But they are reliable and convenient for an autonomous water supply device. Their inconvenience lies in the difficulty of temperature control, in the need to clean the soot, remove ash, manually load fuel.

Gas water heater – a summer cottage type of equipment powered by gas from a cylinder or from a centralized network. To connect according to one or another scheme, it is necessary to equip the selected models with the corresponding nozzles. When connected to a gas cylinder, it is quite suitable for equipping a house remote from central communications. The flowing gas unit is chosen by owners who do not need a large amount of hot water. Its advantages are compactness and the ability to use warmed water almost immediately after switching on, if the water pressure is large enough. Accumulative gas water heating equipment is purchased by owners who need a large amount of hot water. The processing of a small amount of water will be perfectly handled by a bulk water heater for summer cottage, which is most often combined with a washstand of the moidodyr type.

Gas water heating equipment is preferred because of the cost-effectiveness. The costs of owners of cottages during the operation of electrical systems will be higher. But not so much as to completely abandon hot water if it is impossible to install a gas or other water heating apparatus at the cottage. Now almost every electric water heater is equipped with devices that can significantly reduce energy consumption. When heating a fairly large amount of water, the equipment automatically turns off. Therefore, electrical installations are a perfectly suitable option that does not require excessive operating costs from the owner.

For a long time, electric water heaters for summer cottages were not willing to buy because of the belief that they were dangerous for families with small children. This is not true, especially since the developers of the latest modifications carefully thought out all the nuances and aspects of security. Heating elements are located in the housing of the units, access to them is impossible. Not a single growing inquisitive “technician” can penetrate the body.

Advantages and disadvantages of flow units

There is an unfounded opinion according to which it is impractical to buy a flow-through water heater for a summer residence because of the large consumption of energy or gaseous fuel. According to calculations, flow-through and storage plants consume energy in almost equal amounts.

In the list of advantages of flow systems, the main ones are:

• unlimited supply of hot water;
• small dimensions of structures;
• profitability, since flowing equipment only heats water, it does not maintain a constant temperature, like a storage system, energy is also not spent on heating the air in the room;
• lack of need for maintenance;
• affordable price.

The disadvantages of instantaneous water-heating units include the impossibility of simultaneously servicing several water intake points.

Accumulative water heaters, pros and cons

The popularity of storage equipment is justified by the small power of the heating elements, which reduce operating costs.

Their installation can be performed in any of the summer cottages. A convenient functional storage water heater for summer cottage is preferred because:

• simultaneous supply of heated water to several water intake points is possible;
• spontaneous replenishment of the volume of water in the process of spending on household needs;
• the equipment is equipped with dividers that prevent the mixing of heated water with cold water received to replace the consumed volume.

A minus is recognized as a limited amount of heated water and the need to wait until the cold water newly received in the equipment heats up to the required temperature. Storage units need maintenance. It is necessary to periodically clean TENy from scale, change the anodes, and rinse the inner surface of the tank.

The need for maintenance often leads to incorrect conclusions. Many summer residents think that because of this, a storage water heater for a summer residence is not worth buying. However, cleaning tanks and heating elements is not so difficult. And new models are protected from corrosion and persistent accumulation on the walls of sediments by glass-ceramic, enamel coating or enamel enriched with titanium.

The most attractive equipment for summer residents

Installation of equipment for heating water and connecting a water heater in the country depends on the presence or absence of a centralized water supply network. Owners of summer cottages in areas with the ability to connect to central utilities may prefer any model of water heater, focusing only on their needs. Owners of country houses with autonomous water supply who want to install water heaters for showers in the country will need to purchase a storage tank in addition to the pump. Water will be supplied to it by means of a pump, and already from the tank located most often on the roofs of farm buildings, gravity water will flow into the water heating installation. To take water from a well or a well, a pump is required, the power of which must be calculated based on the needs of the owners.

A very important design feature for summer residents is the convenient design for draining the water. Most horizontal installations have lateral inlets and outlets, making it impossible to completely remove all water before winter frosts. Water heaters with a lateral drain system will have to be dismantled before winter, because for the summer, most often they buy vertical units with drain devices located below.

Due to the breadth of the product range, the choice of a water heater for a summer residence is quite simple today. It is necessary to first weigh the positive and negative qualities of a particular model, to assess the needs and specifics of the site. It remains only to buy and correctly establish a useful acquisition.