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The Fascinating World Of Atlanta Water Heaters

By: Nick Messe


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Winter is coming, so say goodbye to cold showers. Now you need to heat your water in a large insulated tank called a water heater. Conventional water heaters in Atlanta are constantly under pressure and equipped with a thermostat control that keeps the water at a constant temperature. Generally, the warm water is in the upper reservoir while the cold water, stays in the bottom and rises gradually to be heated.

For the most part your Atlanta water heater will work away providing you and your family with lots of hot water for your showers and laundry. However, when something goes awry, and the water turns cold, it will work for dirty clothes, but dirty people prefer warmth. When you stop to think of it, how does this hard working appliance that lurks in your basement really work?

Most water heaters are either powered by natural gas, propane, or electricity. Gas heaters must be vented, and so there is a pipe at the top that runs through the wall into the great outdoors. Electric heaters only need to be connected to the electric panel, so they are relatively easy to install.

If you take a look at your tank, there are two pipes. There's the supply line that feeds cold water into the bottom, and the delivery line that takes the hot water from the top. You may have heard horror stories about water heaters exploding, but these days all heaters have a temperature and pressure relief valve that is attached to a pipe that runs down the outside of your tank. If the temperature or pressure go crazy the valve opens and the water runs out.

Since there's usually not enough space under the pipe to put a bucket, find a shallow container of some sort to place there. Never connect the safety valve to a drain, even though it would prevent water damage, because then you'll never know if there's a problem. In some instances the tank can be installed with a shallow pan underneath the whole thing. This would be especially important if the tank is a bedroom closet or in another living space.

Because a conventional hot water tank is used to store the hot water, it is important that it doesn't corrode. Therefore most tanks are constructed of steel or copper, lined with glass to help slow down the process of corrosion. Eventually a small hole starts and then it goes from there. There are temporary fixes, but the only real solution is to replace the tank.

Some homes, especially in Europe, are heated by hot water. A boiler system distributes hot water through pipes and radiators which heat the air and supply heated water to the taps. These homes, obviously have no need for a hot water heater. In some areas of the world, hot water is supplied by instant heaters that are located near the sink, tub, or washing machine.

These instant heaters are tankless water heaters which are becoming very popular for a whole host of reasons. With this system you will never run out of hot water. In busy households of many adults and teenagers, a unit can be located in all of the bathrooms, to lessen the distance that the hot water needs to travel.

This is how a tankless system works. If you turn on the hot water tap a flow sensor detects that water is flowing and a grid of heating elements called modules spring to life. The water flows over the modules and sends the heated water instantly. As you can imagine these are extremely powerful and are often controlled by a microprocessor.

Unless the hot water tap is turned on, the tankless unit doesn't use any power at all. Talk about instant gratification. There are all sorts of models available on the market and the prices vary greatly as well. It is important to do a little research on this exciting new way of heating water. As with anything else, you get what you pay for, so choose a model in the middle price range if you can't afford the higher priced types.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Nick Messe is president of Lead Frog LLC. In the Atlanta area look for Atlanta sewer cleaning on the web. Atlanta plumbers provide a full range of plumbing services in the greater Atlanta area - www.atlantaplumbing.com

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