Issue 50

GLAMPSITES
TRADE SECRETS
Hot Water
GETTY IMAGES
How to specify a water heating option that works for your site
WATER HEATERS have evolved dramatically
in terms of technology, energy efficiency
and cost, so it can be overwhelming when it
comes to choosing the right water heater for
your glampsite or holiday park. So, what are
the water heating options?
STORAGE WATER TANKS
This system stores water in a tank, heated
to a pre-determined temperature and held
until it is used. The size of the tank decides
how much water it can hold. The stored
hot water is forced through a pipe at the
top of the tank and delivered to where it is
required.
While storage tanks powered by natural
gas are three to four times cheaper to run
than those that use electricity, constantly
heating and storing water in a tank ‘just in
case’ demand increases will result in much
higher energy costs than if you use tankless/
instantaneous gas water heaters.
TANKLESS WATER HEATERS
Also known as ‘instantaneous water heaters’,
these only supply hot water on demand as
and when needed. As they don’t require a
tank to store hot water, they don’t produce
the standby energy losses associated with
“HEAT PUMPS EFFECTIVELY
WORK LIKE A REFRIGERATOR
IN REVERSE, MOVING THE
HEAT FROM ONE PLACE
TO ANOTHER INSTEAD
OF GENERATING HEAT
DIRECTLY”
storage water heaters, which will reduce
energy costs significantly.
While an instantaneous water heating
appliance itself can be more expensive
to purchase they more than compensate
for the upfront costs by maximising the
efficiency of the system and reducing
running costs.
There are two types of instantaneous
gas water heaters – non-condensing and
condensing. Condensing heaters are more
efficient than non-condensing appliances
but either option will be more efficient and
cost-effective than an electric appliance.
As a by-product of the gas, water heaters
produce steam which cools and condenses
on a surface. This condensation is acidic
and will corrode many materials. A noncondensing
appliance will vent the steam
directly, whereas a condensing appliance
will recycle the extra heat generated from
exhaust gases to increase efficiencies.
As stated above, while condensing water
heaters are expensive upfront, these costs
more than balance out with long-term
savings on the energy used.
HEAT PUMPS
A heat pump can be used as a stand-alone
water heating system, or as combination
water heating and warm air system. This is
an energy saver choice as it uses the heat
of the air and the ground to heat the water,
instead of electricity.
Heat pumps effectively work like a
refrigerator in reverse, moving the heat from
one place to another instead of generating
heat directly. Heat pump water heating
systems are more expensive to buy than
conventional storage water heaters but, as
with instantaneous water heaters, they have
lower operating costs. Heat pump water
heaters will not operate efficiently in a cold
area as they will cool the area they are in, so
their efficiency is dependent on them being
installed in an area with excess heat, such as
a boiler room.
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