Side-by-Side Testing of Water Heating Systems: Results from the 2013–2014 Evaluation
- Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, FL (United States). Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC)
The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) completed a fourth year-long evaluation on residential hot water heating systems in a laboratory environment (east central Florida, hot-humid climate). The evaluation studied the performance of five hot water systems (HWS) plus a reference baseline system for each fuel, (i.e., electric and natural gas). Electric HWS consisted of two residential electric heat pump water heaters (HPWHs, 60 and 80 gallons), a solar thermal system using a polymer absorber (glazed) collector with 80-gallon storage and a duplicate 50-gallon standard electric water heater with added cap and wrap insulation. Baseline performance data were collected from a standard 50-gallon electric water heater of minimum code efficiency to compare energy savings. Similarly, a standard 40-gallon upright vented natural gas water heater served as baseline for the natural gas fuel category. The latter, having a larger jacket diameter [18 in., with an energy factor (EF) of 0.62] with increased insulation, replaced a former baseline (17 in. diameter, EF = 0.59) that served during three previous testing rotations (2009–2013). A high-efficiency, condensing natural gas hybrid water heater with 27-gallon buffered tank was also tested and compared against the gas baseline. All systems underwent testing simultaneously side-by-side under the criteria specified elsewhere in this report.
- Research Organization:
- Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Building Technologies Office (EE-5B) (Building America)
- OSTI ID:
- 1373343
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/GO-102017-4823; 7682
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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