comfun1
New Member
I'm building a new house and am wondering, is it better to use a hot water with two elements rated at 4500w or a water heater with a single element rated at 5500w? The catalog claims the 5500w has a 20% quicker recovery rate.
You can get two element heaters with 5500 watt elements. With 2 elements, you have a "backup" when the lower one burns out, which will keep some hot water in the tank until it is repaired. With one element, when it burns out you have NO hot water until it is fixed. One element heaters are usually a lower level model than those with two elements. In fact, Bradford White one element heaters often only have a one year warranty.
Also, the larger draw could cause the lights to flicker when the thing turns on. That's a large load to switch.
Say you have a heat pump with auxilliary emergency heat, an electric dryer, and stove. If they all were on at the same time, you could even pop your main breaker, depending on what your main supply service is.
This is awkward, but...
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