Which geyser is better: what to choose and why

A gas water heater is an instantaneous water heater that runs on natural gas. If you do not have hot water supply, but gas is supplied, this equipment will increase the comfort of your life. You just open the tap, hot water runs out of it, and its temperature is regulated by you independently. Even if you have a centralized supply of hot water in your house or apartment, but you are not satisfied with the price you have to pay for heating, or perhaps you are not satisfied with the temperature, installing a geyser will also solve these problems. Heating water costs much less than it is provided centrally – that’s a significant savings on utility bills. To understand which gas column is better, you will have to study the structure of the equipment and its types. Then the choice for you will be simple and conscious.

The structure of the gas column

Flowing gas water heaters consist of three main units:

• gas burner and gas exhaust system;
• heat exchanger;
• ignition and control module.

All these nodes have several modifications and their layout gives different models with different characteristics. All this allows you to choose a unit for your own requirements, because you can only say which gas water heater is better by being tied to a specific situation.

Ignition type

In order for the column to start its work, it is necessary to ignite the gas. Old models were lit by hand, bringing a burning match to the igniter. Today, such units are no longer on sale, they are a thing of the past. They were replaced by others that work in automatic or semi-automatic mode.

Piezo ignition

In geysers with a piezoelectric element, ignition occurs in a semi-automatic mode. There are two burners – main and pilot. The pilot burner is a small wick that burns constantly, whether there is hot water flow or not. The main burner turns on only when the valve is opened. The rest of the time it is off.

The procedure for starting a gas column with piezo ignition is simple: press the button displayed on the front panel, a spark appears on the candles, which ignites the pilot burner. When a hot water tap is opened, gas is supplied to the main burner, ignition takes place from the pilot burner. While water is flowing, both burners are lit. The valve was closed, the gas supply to the main one stopped, only the pilot one is on fire again.

What are the advantages of geysers with piezoelectric elements? These are the cheapest models, they usually have a mechanical control – a regulator that allows you to change the height of the flame, thereby regulating the temperature of hot water. These models are non-volatile, which can be important for giving.

There are more disadvantages and they are more serious. The wick burns (should burn) constantly while you use the column, and this is gas consumption. Let it be small, but constant, as a result, quite a decent amount accumulates in a month. So this is far from the most economical way to heat water. The second minus is also associated with the burning of the wick. If it goes out, you will not be able to light the column. The wick goes out because it does not have enough oxygen to burn, or because a reverse draft periodically occurs in the chimney, which blows out the flame. Since there is a flame controller, this is not a problem – the gas is automatically shut off, but the need to re-ignite the pilot burner is unpleasant.

Electric ignition

Automatic geysers have electric ignition. This is an electric spark generator that is activated when the tap is opened. The rest of the time the gas does not burn, which significantly saves fuel. There is an electric ignition, powered by batteries, there is – from a 220 V network. Which gas water heater is better for this parameter, you have to choose according to the circumstances.

If you often turn off the light, it makes sense to choose a model that runs on batteries. As you understand, in this case, you have to make sure that they “do not sit down.” If there are no problems with electricity or there is a backup power source, it is better to choose a geyser powered by 220 V. Plug the cord into the outlet once and forget about it. Electricity consumption is negligible, so they have almost no effect on the bills.

Geysers automatic machines have electronic control. A board with a microprocessor is installed in the case, the desired temperature is set from a small control panel (button or touch). A small LCD screen is often placed here, which displays the current state of the equipment, the temperature of the water, if it is being heated. This type of geyser is the best if you value ease of handling.

Disadvantages – higher price and power requirements. Electronics needs a stable voltage of 220 V with slight deviations of the order of 2 * 3 V. We do not maintain such parameters, so in order for the automatic gas water heater to work for a long time, a stabilizer is required, and it is better not a relay, but an electronic one. It not only stabilizes the voltage, but also evens out the shape of the pulses, which is also very important for imported water heaters.

Burner, combustion chamber, chimney

The heating of water in a gas column occurs due to the heat released during the combustion of gas. The combustion itself takes place in the burner, and it is “packed” into the combustion chamber. Unburned gases that remain in the chamber are discharged through the chimney. Let’s consider all these devices in more detail.

Burner

The heat source in the gas column is a gas burner. There are three types: single-stage, two-stage, modulated. The first two types have almost never been found recently – they do not allow maintaining the set temperature, therefore it makes no sense to consider them – all columns have a modulated burner.

Modulating burners can be controlled manually – with a special handle mounted on the body – or through a microprocessor that maintains the desired water temperature. Burners are made mainly of galvanized steel, as this material is optimal for the task. It is inexpensive, durable, has a high melting point, and normally tolerates frequent heating.

Types of combustion chamber and chimney

Combustion chambers in gas columns are of two types – open and closed. Their name reflects the essence:

• closed (turbocharged, fan) is a metal box into which a burner with a socket at the top is inserted to install a chimney;
• open (atmospheric) – this is actually the entire body of the column, since there is no isolated space, just a burner is installed at a certain place, there is a cover with a socket on top, to which the chimney is connected.

Different types of combustion chamber require a different chimney. In an open chamber, air is taken from the room, therefore, an effective ventilation system, a normal air supply and an atmospheric chimney leading to the ventilation duct are necessary. The closed chamber is equipped with a coaxial chimney (two pipes of different diameters inserted one into the other), which is led out through the wall to the street. In this case, the combustion products are removed forcibly, with the help of a fan through the inner pipe, and oxygen enters immediately to the burner through the outer one.

A geyser with a closed combustion chamber works more stably under normal conditions, but it has drawbacks. The chimney can become frosty in winter, which is why the column goes out (it is extinguished by automation that controls the removal of combustion products). The second point is that with a strong side wind, a flame can be blown out by a stream of air. The gas supply is turned off by the same automation, but the situation is unpleasant. The third circumstance is that not all city authorities allow holes in walls in houses and pipes to be introduced.

So in this case, it is difficult to say exactly which gas column is better – it depends on many factors.

Heat Exchanger

Water is heated while it flows through the heat exchanger. It is a metal pipe installed above the burner. The shape of the heat exchanger in the geyser is special – a pipe with fins is serpentine in the lower part, then a sheet of metal is installed around it, over which the pipe is wound in a spiral. Flowing along this long path, the water is heated by the heated metal.

They make heat exchangers from galvanized steel (the most budget option), stainless steel and copper. The best in terms of efficient heat transfer are copper. They are the most economical, but also expensive. The most durable are stainless, but they have a much worse situation with heat transfer. Which gas column is better in this case is up to you. Choose the quality that is more important to you.

If you decide to buy a gas water heater with a copper heat exchanger, do not try to find a cheap model. In order to reduce the price, manufacturers use low-quality copper, and even tubes are made with thin walls. Such a heat exchanger will serve the warranty period, and then problems will begin – a leak will appear.

If you remove the casing, you will see fistulas in the tubes through which water drips. They are located for the most part on the outside of the pipe, just in the place where condensate forms. With a normal pipe thickness, this is not scary, but thin walls quickly corrode. Such a leaky heat exchanger does not have to be changed (it costs about 1/3 of the total price), it can be soldered. You will need refractory solder with a melting point of about 200 ° C, a powerful soldering iron and soldering flux. The technology of work is usual – clean the damaged area to bare metal, degrease, tin, solder.

How to determine power

First of all, you need to decide on the power or performance of the gas column. These are two related characteristics, simply reflecting different characteristics of the unit. Productivity is how many liters of water a column can heat per minute, and power is how much heat it can release. Some manufacturers indicate power, others indicate performance, so you need to understand exactly what you need.

Let’s first figure out what kind of performance you need a geyser. It depends on the number of consumers that need to be provided with warm water. There are consumption rates for equipment of different types:

• kitchen sink, washbasin – 4 l/min;
• shower – 7-10 l / min.
  

If you have a kitchen sink, shower and washbasin connected to hot water so that all three points work simultaneously and the water temperature does not drop, you need a capacity of 4 + 4 + 10 = 18 l / min. This is a lot, the price tag will be solid. If you think about it, you will understand that all three devices almost never turn on at the same time. There are situations when the shower and one of the taps work together. To provide them with hot water, the productivity should be 14 l / min. This is a little more modest, but quite enough for a comfortable stay. Look for the found value in the technical specifications, it should not be less.

Now let’s deal with power. Geysers can allocate from 6 kW to 40 kW of heat for heating water. Here the division is:

• a geyser with a power of up to 19 kW is suitable for heating water for one point of water intake;
• at two points, the power should be from 20 kW to 28 kW;
• three require more than 29 kW.

Now, you can definitely say which geyser is better in terms of power in relation to your needs.

What else to look for when choosing

There are a few more lines in the technical characteristics of gas water heaters that you should pay attention to. First, see the minimum water and gas pressure that this model can handle. Imported geysers of European manufacturers are more capricious in this regard – they are designed for stable pressure, they do not tolerate drops. But under normal conditions, they work stably and without breakdowns.

Some manufacturers, in order to adapt their equipment to our conditions, install gearboxes that compensate for jumps. If there is no such device in the model you like, and your water and / or gas pressure jumps, you can install the reducer on in front of the column entrance. This device is simply placed in a pipe break, installation is standard. At the same time, other consumers will be protected.

It is also useful to study the list of service programs and protection levels. The safety and comfort of the equipment depends on them. It is highly desirable to have the following functionality:

• Gas control. Monitors the presence of a flame on the burner, if it goes out, shuts off the gas supply.
• Traction control. The presence of draft in the chimney is controlled. If the combustion products are not removed, the gas supply is shut off.
• Flow control or hydraulic valve. Turns off the column if the water pressure is too weak or not at all.
• Overheat protection. The temperature sensor controls the temperature of the water in the heat exchanger; when it approaches a critical point (boiling), it turns off the column. This prolongs the life of the equipment (when boiling, the heat exchanger can break, like pipes).

These functions are necessary for the safe operation of the geyser. This is almost a standard set that is in all good gas water heaters. All others are optional. They, as a rule, are no longer so critical (for example, the remote control).

Sizes of gas water heaters and prices

The overall dimensions of gas water heaters are small – they are commensurate with a small hanging kitchen cabinet. Average height – 550-650 mm, width 300-400 mm, depth 200-300 mm. But if you wish, you can find models wide and flat, or vice versa, narrow and deep. Which gas water heater is better for this parameter can only be said by being tied to the installation site, so there is no definite answer here either.

Prices for geysers vary widely. Simple models with piezo ignition and a galvanized burner cost from $110. Equipment with electric ignition and a bunch of service functions – up to $ 450. So there is somewhere to roam.