With the electric water heating market a key growth sector for wholesalers, Nick Mawby, Water Category Manager at Redring Xpelair, explores the suitability of different units for commercial and residential applications.
Electric water heating is an established category, but one with considerable scope for future growth, due to its convenience, ease of installation and superior energy and water saving credentials, when compared to centralised water heating systems. No running off cold slugs of water or heating up long pipe runs can mean hotter water faster for the user and much less wasted energy.
In fact, new electric water heating product categories, such as boiling water taps, compact under-sink heaters and instant hot water taps, could open up new business opportunities within the domestic market that weren’t previously widely available to electrical wholesalers and contractors.
The additional business that could result from adoption of these ‘point of use’ water heating systems in domestic applications could be good news for wholesalers, as is the continued strength of electric water heating in commercial settings. To understand the further potential sales growth, it is useful to explore which water heating options are best suited to different commercial and residential applications.
Instantaneous water heaters
Providing hand-washing or showering solutions for commercial applications where centralised water heating is not a plausible option, products in the instantaneous water heating category have applications that could be very useful in the home as well.
Instant handwash units, such as Redring’s I3VS Manual Hand Wash, have long been used in commercial washrooms and changing areas, with touch-free models like the AV3S proving ideal for hygiene sensitive operations such as food preparation or healthcare where cross contamination could be an issue.
The power requirements of these units need only a standard 13Amp 230V supply, and, as only the water needed is heated, the energy consumption is low and they achieve ErP A ratings for energy efficiency. Popular with contractors for their ease of installation, the units feature rapid heating elements and a compact and robust design.
Domestically, these hand-wash units could also provide an ideal solution for adding hot water for hand-washing in garages, outhouses, utility rooms or workshops.
More powerful units, such as Redring’s Powerstream range, are ideal for delivering hot water for showering, as well as hand-washing, where access to centralised hot water would be difficult or expensive. Multi-outlet units, with outputs of 9.5KW to 12kW, can serve two hand basins or power one mixer shower and one hand basin. This flexibility, together with the compact space-saving under-sink design, is a key driver for these types of units being adopted more widely in the domestic market.
Instantaneous water heating also offers options specifically intended for the residential market that provide utility not previously available. Instant electric taps can provide instant hot water for hand washing and need only a mains cold water feed and standard electricity supply. Simple to fit and inexpensive, units like Redring’s TAP1 are ideal as the simplest way to add hot water to a bathroom conversion or utility room.
Stored water heaters
Electric stored water heaters remain popular for many commercial applications, providing hot water for hand and dishwashing in kitchens, canteens and staff bathrooms. Whilst slightly less energy efficient than their instantaneous counterparts, stored water units can offer higher volume flow rates over a shorter time period, and those heaters which deliver water to multiple outlets are especially useful to many small businesses’ operations.
10 to 15 litre capacity under-sink heaters delivering water at temperatures of up to 70°C, such as the Redring TS range, are ideal for a single kitchen sink in a flat or holiday home, or to serve multiple handwash basins in hair salons or nail bars, for example. For larger professional kitchens and commercial canteens, Flatback cisterns with 25 or 50 litre capacities offer multiple outlet functionality and a significant and reliable supply of stored hot water.
Stored water systems typically use a standard mains supply and it is important to check the ‘recovery time’ when choosing a model to understand how long the unit will take to get back to temperature once drained.
Water boiling
Water boiling units are also providing competition for the ubiquitous kettle in the domestic market, as residential customers become more aware of the convenience, efficiency and space-saving that electric water boiling can deliver.
Wall mounted water boilers, such as Redring’s Sensaboil, are highly suited to commercial applications, such as canteens, cafes, restaurant kitchens and commercial catering facilities, where countertop space can be limited. 3 to 7.5 litre tanks can deliver over 200 cups of hot water per hour and over 50 at once, at temperatures of 98°C.
Boiling water on demand is increasingly sought after in the domestic market, with instant boiling water taps proving a real success story in recent years. Redring’s 3 in 1 Instant Boiling Water Tap, which can replace a standard kitchen mixer tap with the addition of an under-sink boiler unit, safely dispenses boiling water for food preparation or beverage making, as well as the usual centrally heated hot and mains cold water.
Sales heat up
The electric water heating category is varied, with domestic installations gaining traction alongside the traditionally strong commercial market. A good understanding of the suitability of different water heating units for different applications and the efficiency and convenience benefits of point of use water heating will enable wholesalers to capitalise on these opportunities.
