Water Heater Recovery Rate

Here s the official definition.

Water heater recovery rate.

The official definition of the recovery time or recovery rate for your water heater is the amount of hot water that your water heater can provide in one hour once it has been completely drained. Gas fired residential water heaters are generally con sidered to have a 75 recovery efficiency. The flow rate through the demand water heater would need to be at least 3 25 gallons 12 3 liters per minute. The higher btu burner the better it generally is for recovery.

Once the actual hot water flow rate is known the heater can then be selected for the total demand and. To determine temperature rise subtract the incoming water temperature from the desired output temperature. To reduce flow rates install low flow water fixtures. Usually 100 f is used but sometimes 60 f.

The recovery rate is the amount of hot water the water heater is capable of producing in a given period of time. For a typical 40 to 50 gallon gas water heater anything above 40 gallons hour would be considered a good recovery rate. Electric water heater recovery table calculated at 100 recovery efficiency gph recovery at indicated temperature rise. Calculate the additional load using section vi heater with a recovery rate of 1116 gph 40 f to 140 f and 368 gallons storage.

The recovery rate is measured in gallons and basically provides an idea of the speed of your water heater in providing hot water. Gas water heaters have a quicker recovery time about 50 gallons per hour compared to around 14 gallons per hour of an electric water heater. A water heater s recovery time also called recovery rate is the amount of hot water in gallons a tank water heater can provide in just one hour after being completely drained. The remaining 25 of the heat is used to move the products of combustion through the flue to the outdoors.

Wattage of the heating elements burner size efficiency temperature rise required and the time frame used to measure the recovery rate. The charts below are based on gallons per hour gph. Now knowing the recovery rate of a water heater is important for 2 big reasons. Recovery rate basically gives you an idea of how fast a water heater can heat water.

In an electric water heater if the wattage of the elements is 4500 the incoming water temperature is 40 degrees and you are heating the water to 120 degrees temperature rise of 80 degrees the recovery rate is 23 0 gph. This means 75 of the total heat produced by the burner is absorbed into the water in the tank. They need to be properly ventilated allowing exhaust.