Just watching a recorded episode of Mythbusters "Household Disasters".
They wanted to make a domestic water heater explode, so they replaced the 4500w immersion element with a 5500w one!
Must cost a 'bomb' to have hot water in the USA.
Seems a smallish increase. Are those figures right? I thought they jacked it up higher?
Tim
My boiler was gas fired when I lived there. It lived in the garage (attached to the house) and looked a bit like a Megaflow with the gas firing part underneath. It was securely strapped to the walls in case of earthquakes.
It was set to provide hot water 24 x 7 and being a tank, contained a large amount of hot water. There was no immersion element backup.
It was quite cheap as gas cost next to nothing (mid-80s). I ought to look to see if I still have any PG&E bills from the time.
David Lang a écrit :
My touring caravan, has the ability to run on both gas and electric simultaineously. It has a combined heat input rating of 5500w.
Why? A larger element would simply heat the water more quickly.
In the US, I've only ever had gas-fired water heaters. Ours were always in the basement.
No, they just want hot water quicker. In fact it would cost less as the water would heat up quicker and there would be less losses. (Assuming the water was used right away).
Ah but this was a very big experiment as i recall. I assume the series has been axed as I've seen no new ones for a couple of years. The original 'house' they described was more like a small hotel than just a house though, so maybe editing got this bit cut out.
I don't think the size of element maters, it will just take longer with a smaller one. However if you are going to seal up all the safety devices and just heat it until it ruptures to create a steam explosion, it would need to be a pretty naff installation to be like their set up. Brian
Not quite dead yet, but soon
One way it happens in the UK is when someone converts a back boiler open fire and then seals the tails without bothering to empty it or vent & fill with dry sand. Later someone restores it as an active open fire and the pressure builds inside until the tank ruptures. Not good!
This was one of the most "wow" things they've done.
When they full-sized it, the HW tank went 500ft into the air !
This is a fairly long report about the sinking of a fishing vessel of the Dorset coast back in 2000.
In summary the vessel sunk because of a poorly maintained Hot water system on board and a hot water cylinder not suitable for a pressurised system exploded with enough force that it blew a hole in the Hull. There had been indications before the explosion that something was amiss such as steam instead of water coming from taps but nobody on board had the knowledge to deal with it.
G,Harman
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