Water heater for kitchen sink

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philbob57

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We live in an apartment. The water heater in the kitchen used to feed the kitchen sink, the dishwasher, and 2 bathrooms. Now it just serves the kitchen sink and dishwasher. It's time to replace the heater.

The dishwasher is about 10 years old, so it conserves at least some water; it doesn't have an internal water heater. We wash pots and pans by hand, sometimes just before turning on the dishwasher.

How big should the new heater be?

Also, I'm leaning towards a 220V unit. Am I right in thinking that results in faster heating and essentially the same electricity cost?

Thanks in advance.
 

Dana

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How big is the water heater it is replacing? Is regaining some space one of the goals?

Washing dishes by hand takes more hot water that the dishwasher does, but it's still not a large volume of water. A 4-6 gallon unit cranked up to 140F with a (code required in most places) thermostatic mixing valve or tempering valve reducing the output temp to ~115F is plenty for serving most residential kitchens.

Think watts, not volts. There are small tanks out there that come with 1500 watt / 240VAC elements and some that can take 6000 watt / 240VAC elements. But unless you are doing a LOT of hand washing of pots dishes, and filling several large mop buckets with steaming water you're not going to run short even with a ~1500 watt / 120VAC element as long as you have at least a couple gallons of stored hot water. Something like the six gallon AO Smith EJC-6 comes with 1650 watt elements standard in both the 120VAC and 240VAC versions, though I believe either can accommodate 3000 watt elements (that still need to be specified at the rated voltage.) You may do just fine with a 2.5 gallon ~1200-1500W unit.

Small electric water heaters aren't necessarily a lot cheaper than a 40 gallon unit, but they can sure save a lot of space.
 

philbob57

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Thanks. It's 38 gallons now, but that was when it was the only water heater in a 3 BR apartment. My goals are 1) replace an old water heater; 2) save electricity costs with a smaller tank; 3) not run out of water when doing dishes. The WH was installed a long time ago.
 

hj

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quote; save electricity costs with a smaller tank;

You use elelctrity to HEAT THE WATER YOU USE. The amount you use has NOTHING to do with the size of the tank.
 
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