Water Heater vs. Hot Water Heater

[Belinda Barfield]

Okay folks, this is one of those little things that drives me crazy. So, in order to help me not sweat the petty stuff, please tell me which is correct.

My SO and I have always agreed that the appliance supplying hot water is a water heater (whether with tank, or tankless). However, after reviewing some drawings yesterday, in which there is shown a "hot water heater", he questioned if possibly that term is correct. He contended that maybe "hot water heater" refers to the actual apparatus that heats the water, such as an electrical element. In my book, same bloomin' thing. If the water was hot, you wouldn't need to heat it, therefore the proper term is water heater.

What say you?

[Mike Henderson]

Seems that you'd want to heat cold water. If it's already hot, why heat it?

Mike

[Dennis Peacock]

It's a water heater.....otherwise it would be a boiler.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Umm, I hesitate because I don't want to get into hot water,
but we had a water heater that was supplied by a solar water heater.
So it tended to get hot water fed to the water heater.
So the water heater was a hot water heater when the solar water heater would peter out of hot water to supply the water heater which heated hot water but the water gotter colder.
See, I told you I hesitated. It can get really cornfusing at times. :D

[Jason Roehl]

That's a good one, Dennis.

I'm with you, Belinda. It's a water heater. Unfortunately, I think "hot water heater" is just a small symptom of a greater disease in our spoken and written language--failure to learn it, and laziness in implementing what little they did learn. I see major mistakes in the tickers on various national news channels, I find mistakes in the newspapers, I've even found some in books (that used to NEVER happen ;) ). I'm thankful that there is a modicum of readability on the two woodworking forums I frequent, but the truck forum I visit is a whole different story--I've seen posts that were one run-on sentence/paragraph with virtually every word spelled pseudo-phonetically. Then, when someone posts that they would help, but can't understand the original post, the original poster gets mad (which certainly doesn't help their spelling any).

If you can't spell, read--it will help, and not just with the spelling.

[Roger Warford]

Shouldn't it be called a "cold water heater" during winter?

[Roger Warford]

Hmmm... Now that I think about it, the hot air heater has been on a lot lately, but in a few months we'll need to the cold air cooler and few cool ones in the cold drink cooler.:)

[Chris Padilla]

I've seen posts that were one run-on sentence/paragraph with virtually every word spelled pseudo-phonetically. Then, when someone posts that they would help, but can't understand the original post, the original poster gets mad (which certainly doesn't help their spelling any).

well jayson you know it is just on of those things that pepel have to get used to on the internet when asking qwestins and it all depends on the topc and stuf you know and then there is the won person who all komplanes they dont get it or somethin but i think you are jest being rassisst is saying that truck drivres aren't not well edumatetd or sumthing but that jest isnt tru n stuff caue they work hard to lik your self and maybe didn't have apportunetees like you n stuff so jest like chill out and jest help them if you can and if you can't well they don't not say nuthin!!!1111

By the way, it is a Water Heater. Also, cold water isn't really cold...it just has a lack of heat! :D

[Larry Browning]

Hot water heater is sort of like queso cheese dip. queso is spanish for cheese, so it is like saying cheese cheese dip.

What really has me saying hmmm is.... When does laundry turn in to clothes and when does dirty clothes turn into laundry? Is it when the clothes enter the "laundry basket"? No, wait, we have a "dirty clothes hamper", so that is not it. I am so confused!!!!

And another thing... Is it flammable or inflammable? My English teacher wife says they mean the same thing. And what about non-inflammable? She looked it up. There seems to be no such thing. However, there is nonflammable which means not inflammable. So be careful when reading your paint can labels!

[Chris Padilla]

Larry,

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/flammable.html

Is ensure, insure, or assure?? :D

[Larry Browning]

This is Larry's SWMBO English teacher, and I must apologize for his grammar. He should have written "do clothes" instead of "does clothes". He thinks clothes is a singular noun like the noun laundry. Please forgive him (and forgive me for butting in).

[Larry Browning]

Larry,

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/flammable.html

Is ensure, insure, or assure?? :D

Ohh, let's not confuse things with the facts!

[Chris Padilla]

Effect or Affect???

To, Too, or Two???

Their, There, or They're???


:D

[Karl Brogger]

Some of you would love George Carlin's rants on the bastardization and the softening of the English language.

Check out "When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?" from the library, or cheat and listen to it at work on a audio book at work like I did. Is it still an audio book if its an mp3?

[Rick Gooden]

To me the ultimate non-word is irregardless, regardless of what others might say.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Well, now lookit what Ya done, Belinda.
A fine mess over hot water. :D
LOL!

Oh my!
I just noticed there is 12.5% that are hotwater heater enthusiasts.
Floridians?

[Ted Calver]

I think he's trying to pay you back for wrecking his harmonica!

[Gary Click]

This reminds me of my idiot neighbor across the street.

On evening he calls and asks if we had hot water. Apparently he did not and he was trying to determine if it was off in the entire neighborhood or just at his house. He envisioned two pipes coming to the house, one hot and one cold.

He is also the one who mobilized for Y2K but that is another longer tale.

gary

[Clifford Mescher]

This reminds me of my idiot neighbor across the street.

On evening he calls and asks if we had hot water. Apparently he did not and he was trying to determine if it was off in the entire neighborhood or just at his house. He envisioned two pipes coming to the house, one hot and one cold.

He is also the one who mobilized for Y2K but that is another longer tale.

gary
Now that is funny. Clifford.

[Frank Hagan]

GAMA, the Gas Appliance Manufacturer's Association, uses "water heater" (although never alone; they are always identified in some other way such as "residential water heater", "gas water heater", etc.)

Most of the manufacturers use the term "water heater" as well, but Noritz, Weil-McLain, RBI, Hubbel Electric, and Parker boiler all use "hot water heater" in their literature. (Disclaimer: I used to work for a boiler manufacturer, Laars, which was part of a large water heater manufacturer, Bradford-White).

Both forms have been used a long time. So who's right? GAMA uses "gas water heater" or "electric water heater" and I've never seen "gas water" in a house (well, maybe coming off the teapot). Ever seen "electric water"? That would be shocking! ;)

In practice, the vast majority of the time a tank style water heater is heating hot water to a higher temperature; when the temp falls to 116°F (from 120˜F), the burner comes on to bring it up to 120°F again. So it is heating hot water hotter. You could call it a "hot water hotter heater" to be exactly correct.

Tankless water heaters heat mostly cold water, unless they are plumbed with a recirc line in which case they are always heating hot water. So you have to ask the person "Is your tankless appliance installed with a recirc line?" before you can tell them what it is.

To get really confused, read some pre-WWII literature in England; they are "geyser water heaters" or "geysers".

[Greg Peterson]

it's a watur heeter, not a hot watter heeter. irregardless its redumbdent to call it a hot wattur heeter. thats just dumm.

[M Toupin]

Okay folks, this is one of those little things that drives me crazy. So, in order to help me not sweat the petty stuff, please tell me which is correct.

Belinda, you apparently have waaaay too much free time on your hands.:rolleyes:

Might I recommend Wet Willies (http://wetwillies.com)on River Street to occupy your time? If nothing else you won't care about water heaters after a few Mojito Mojo.:D

Mike

[Belinda Barfield]

Well, now lookit what Ya done, Belinda.
A fine mess over hot water. :D
LOL!

Oh my!
I just noticed there is 12.5% that are hotwater heater enthusiasts.
Floridians?

It's a talent, Sonny. What can I say?


I think he's trying to pay you back for wrecking his harmonica!

LOL . . . more than likely!


Belinda, you apparently have waaaay too much free time on your hands.:rolleyes:

Might I recommend Wet Willies (http://wetwillies.com)on River Street to occupy your time? If nothing else you won't care about water heaters after a few Mojito Mojo.:D

Mike

Oh Mike! I have whiled away many an hour at Wet Willies, sitting out on the sidewalk watching the world go by. There's only one little problem. The Chocolate Thunder (or any other high octane beverage for that matter) causes me to go into periods of deep thought in an attempt to solve the mysteries of the universe. I once had a most interesting discussion with homeless man who was once a "top secret engineer for Nasa". We had a rousing debate about nuclear powered space flight. The fact that I know nothing about nuclear power, or rockets, or space ships, or space had absolutely no bearing on the conversation. :rolleyes:

Since others have opened up the discussion for other words/phrase, I'll throw this one out. The misspelling is not what bothers me, it's the fact that the people who wrote the document should know the correct term. We frequently get drawings, etc., from this one company and invariably the word "substrate" is written as substraight or substrait.

I'm heading out to Wet Willies now since I apparently still have too much time on my hands! :D

[Eddie Watkins]

THis is giving me a headache!;):rolleyes:

[Dennis Peacock]

This is Larry's SWMBO English teacher, and I must apologize for his grammar. He should have written "do clothes" instead of "does clothes". He thinks clothes is a singular noun like the noun laundry. Please forgive him (and forgive me for butting in).

Get'im Mrs. Larry's SWMBO.!!!! Keeping that boy straight is like trying to help haul off some hickory timbers from around his shop. ;)

[Dennis Peacock]

This reminds me of my idiot neighbor across the street.

On evening he calls and asks if we had hot water. Apparently he did not and he was trying to determine if it was off in the entire neighborhood or just at his house. He envisioned two pipes coming to the house, one hot and one cold.

He is also the one who mobilized for Y2K but that is another longer tale.

gary

Now...that's funny right there. I don't care who you are. :D

[Dennis Peacock]

Isn't it funny how we can get hot about our water?
I find it interesting that we can take a hot bath and in the exact same fixture have to take a cold bath because someone used all the hot water out of the hot water heater. But why is it a hot water heater when the water coming in the water heater is really cold water that must be heated before it can be called hot water? Have you ever been in "hot water" because you used all the hot water while taking your "shower" only to find that the next family member walks out to complain that there's no more hot water in the water heater? After all it does take hot water from the water heater to heat the cold water so we will have hot water in order to keep us from turning blue when we are forced to take a cold shower.

Now, don't get me wrong. We can be in all kinds of "hot water" without ever spilling a single drop of hot water from our very own hot water heater. :rolleyes: :p :D

[Jeff Bratt]

It's really a cold remover - for water... there are cold removers designed for air and food, too - as opposed to those cold generators. If the water has already had it's cold removed, why would you need to do it again?

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Here in Philly it's a "wuder heater".

[Chris Padilla]

Now...that's funny right there. I don't care who you are. :D

Whatever you say, MATER! ;)

[David Epperson]

That one doesn't bother me as much as a few others. Like some one trying to sale me something they have for sell. Or trying to fix the breaks on their car when they brake. (Usually this one is more misused in the form of muzzle brakes). And of course then there are the spoken word massacres. Like "What screet is your Burick par'ed on"

[Ben Rafael]

My guess it is bad translation from another language. I can think of a few examples, but only one that english speakers will understand.
Gringos who want "huevos rancheros" often ask for "eggs huevos rancheros". But, as many of us know "huevos" is spanish for "eggs", so their request is redundant or ridiculous.
Probably some immigrant German plumber 100 years ago started screaming about a heiser wasserkocher and it stuck.

[Ben Rafael]

This reminds me of my idiot neighbor across the street.

On evening he calls and asks if we had hot water. Apparently he did not and he was trying to determine if it was off in the entire neighborhood or just at his house. He envisioned two pipes coming to the house, one hot and one cold.

He is also the one who mobilized for Y2K but that is another longer tale.

gary

Is your avatar a picture of that neighbor?

[Gene Howe]

well jayson you know it is just on of those things that pepel have to get used to on the internet when asking qwestins and it all depends on the topc and stuf you know and then there is the won person who all komplanes they dont get it or somethin but i think you are jest being rassisst is saying that truck drivres aren't not well edumatetd or sumthing but that jest isnt tru n stuff caue they work hard to lik your self and maybe didn't have apportunetees like you n stuff so jest like chill out and jest help them if you can and if you can't well they don't not say nuthin!!!1111

By the way, it is a Water Heater. Also, cold water isn't really cold...it just has a lack of heat! :D

Dudnt agree mor, iffn Id rote it meself.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

so do you buy a pair of pants? if so, is it just one article of clothing?

also....if I have my appliance set to 140 degF, and it turns on the flame at 130 degF, then yes - it is heating hot water.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Whatever you say, MATER! ;)

Chris....I'm sure you meant "Bibs":rolleyes:

[Doug Shepard]

Must be a slow news day:confused:

[Dennis Peacock]

Chris....I'm sure you meant "Bibs":rolleyes:

That's Mr. Mater Bibs

Hey...ya wanna go tractor tippin' whi-me???? ;)

[Jim O'Dell]

I always call it a water heater, gas or electric. That's how I voted. But if you think about it, you have hot and cold running water...this appliance is what heats the hot water, so it could just as easily be called a hot water-heater. ;) As opposed to something that heats air for the house. No, wait, that would be a furnace. :D Jim.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Now lookit what you gone and done!

"We frequently get drawings, etc., from this one company and invariably the word "substrate" is written as substraight or substrait. " By Belinda

Substraight would be less than straight. Probably warped or crooked.
Could also be the #1,2,3, or 4 turn in a good old NASCAR track.
You might even apply that to a feller who like other fellers, or a gal who like other gals, substraight.

But Substrait would be below a strait. Like swimming under water in the Strait of Gibrawlterd, or The Strait of Hermose. Or being in a sub-marine in those straits.
It could also be something less than dire straits. Not as bad, substrait.

You know, Belinda, this stuff could just keep getting deeper and deeper. Kinda like falling in an outhouse. :confused: :D

[Mike Langford]

What drive me up the wall is when someone gives directions and says something like...."Well, You go down 3 red lights then turn left".....

:mad:

.....What if the lights aren't red?....You could drive for miles before you catch 3 red lights!!! :rolleyes:

They're Traffic Lights (or Traffic Signals)........Just like it's a Water Heater not a Hot Water Heater!

;) I feel better now..............

[Frank Hagan]

What drive me up the wall is when someone gives directions and says something like...."Well, You go down 3 red lights then turn left".....

:mad:

.....What if the lights aren't red?....You could drive for miles before you catch 3 red lights!!! :rolleyes:

They're Traffic Lights (or Traffic Signals)........Just like it's a Water Heater not a Hot Water Heater!

;) I feel better now..............

Reminds me of the time I visited my daughter's university. We were supposed to meet her in the Event Center, so I stopped a young man and asked "Where is the 'Event Center' at?". He tilted his head back and advised me "At the university, we don't end sentences with a preposition".

I apologized, and said "Let me rephrase it then, where is the 'Event Center' at, jerkface?"

[Belinda Barfield]

Now lookit what you gone and done!

"We frequently get drawings, etc., from this one company and invariably the word "substrate" is written as substraight or substrait. " By Belinda

Substraight would be less than straight. Probably warped or crooked.
Could also be the #1,2,3, or 4 turn in a good old NASCAR track.
You might even apply that to a feller who like other fellers, or a gal who like other gals, substraight.

But Substrait would be below a strait. Like swimming under water in the Strait of Gibrawlterd, or The Strait of Hermose. Or being in a sub-marine in those straits.
It could also be something less than dire straits. Not as bad, substrait.

You know, Belinda, this stuff could just keep getting deeper and deeper. Kinda like falling in an outhouse. :confused: :D

It never surprises me when things get deeper and deeper on the Creek, Sonny. ;)



;) I feel better now..............

Glad you feel better, Mike, and glad we could all help out. Isn't it nice sometimes just to ge these things off our your chest? The Creek is a heck of a lot cheaper than therapy.:D

[Sonny Edmonds]

What drive me up the wall is when someone gives directions and says something like...."Well, You go down 3 red lights then turn left".....

:mad:

.....What if the lights aren't red?....You could drive for miles before you catch 3 red lights!!! :rolleyes:

They're Traffic Lights (or Traffic Signals)........Just like it's a Water Heater not a Hot Water Heater!

;) I feel better now..............

I feel your pain!
My Sis in Medford, OR lives a slight bit remotely from town. We get as far as a small corner store where we were to call her.
She starts giving me directions like, "you go down the road and see a big rock on the left. Turn there and go to the big tree on the right and about a quarter of a mile you'll see a blue mailbox...."
"For craps sakes! Come and lead us to your house, will ya?", I said. :D
She was there in about 10 minutes, I couldn't tell one rock or tree from another following her to her house.

Did you know that Oregonians don't tan?
They rust.
I think my Sis's (2) up in Oregon have rusted in the brain area sometimes. :confused: :D :)

[Sonny Edmonds]

54 to 5
It seems the Floridians have thinned out some. :confused:

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks all for your input. We ended up with 7 hot water heater fans, but by and large the majority of us drop the hot.

[Colin Giersberg]

Technically, when the heat on the "hot water heater" turns off, doesn't said hot water start cooling off immediately, in a desperate attempt at becoming cold water again, only to be re-heated to a point for another person in the house to use it all up before you can use any of it, thus having cold water again that needs mucho heato to become hot again.

Technically, this statement could go on forever, but realistically, I am going to end it right now, while the ending is good.