There have been many technological advances in direct gas-fired water heaters during the last 10 years; most modern high efficiency water heaters employ pre-mix burners and condensing technology, providing seasonal efficiencies of up to 98% (Gross CV).
In some situations the easiest or quickest option for replacing a water heater is simply replacing with ‘like for like’; upgrading to a higher efficiency condensing water heater may not even be considered. The result is that the end user customer misses out on the major benefits of installing higher efficiency condensing products.
Condensing vs. non-condensing
A new high efficiency condensing water heater can provide a range of benefits to end user customers including:
* A reduction in fuel consumption
* Lower fuel bills
* Reduced carbon and NOx emissions
Dependant on the installation cost and hot water usage, it is possible for the initial investment to be recovered in fuel cost savings within 2 years. Certainly the more hot water a building uses, the higher potential there is for significant savings to be achieved.
In some cases, water heater replacements may require some planning; this depends upon the installation and particularly the existing flue system .
In addition to their higher efficiency and lower NOx emissions, our current condensing water heater products are also available with a wide range of flue options, including room-sealed horizontal or vertical concentric flues or room-sealed twin pipe/parallel flue systems. These options can often provide a neater installation and have the benefit of drawing combustion air directly from outside.
Read more about how to ‘futureproof your hot water system’!
Emergency replacements
A reliable supply of hot water is crucial to many businesses and when an old water heater fails beyond repair, the most important criteria is to restore hot water services as soon as possible. We would always recommend upgrading to a high efficiency model where possible, but we are also aware that this may not be practical in some cases.
Our Charger low NOx and Knight low NOx atmospheric models are particularly designed for the replacement of like for like models, whether they are Lochinvar or other branded products.
They operate at seasonal efficiencies of up to 82% and they are designed to provide the most convenient replacement solution for existing units with conventional flue installations.
Both ranges are CE certified and comply with the most recent ErP (Energy-related products) directive on efficiency and emissions.