Size matters. At least, when it comes to a commercial water heater. Whether you want to buy a new unit or are looking to replace an existing one, selecting the right size is important.

Apart from size, recovery rate of hot water is also important. Of course, every facility differs in its need for hot water. The right option for one facility won’t be suitable to meet the needs of another.

We can definitely point you in the right direction.

Meeting commercial hot water needs

When your business or multi-unit property is at its consumption peak, you need hot water supply and you need it now! You can't wait for heaters to dish out hot water after peak hours.

Let’s say, all the appliances and hot water sources are turned on at the same time and set to ‘hot’.

Dishwashers, sinks, showers, etc. are all turned on and running. This situation is called ‘dump load’, where gallons of hot water is needed at ‘peak demand time’.

Of course, all hot water doesn’t flow out in an instant. So, the usage is calculated as gallons per hour (GPH).

Therefore, another measure for sizing is hourly input or BTU. It determines the recovery rate of a commercial heater, that is, the gallons of hot water that is produced in an hour, based on initial and final temperatures.

An input of let’s say 199,000 BTU will result in 193 gallons of hot water every hour.

Production remains the same irrespective of whether the tank’s storage capacity is 35 or 75 gallons.

In case of smaller tanks, water will be depleted and refilled faster, and more frequently than the larger tanks.

Finding the right balance is thus important. Simply put, gallons per hour indicate hot water available right now (capacity), while BTU describes how quickly hot water is replenished (recovery rate).

If you don’t size the heater according to your facility’s dump load, you risk running out of hot water during peak times. If the tank sizing is sub-par, the heater will be working overtime during these peak hours. It can damage the heater and your business operations as well.

Make sure you consider your facility’s special requirements when shopping for a heater. If you’re not sure about the sizing, we can help.

Check out our variety of tanked and tankless electric water heaters, gas and solar heaters here.