New Water Heaters are Safer
|
|
Summary: The all new natural gas water heaters are of no danger if handled with proper attention and care. Most of them do come with all kinds of built in safety devices and arrangements.
Question: I have had this doubt for a long time. Are the water heaters that work on gasoline safe to use? Is there any risk of fire? Which is better, an electric water heater or a gas water heater? How can I prevent a sudden disaster?
Answer: There is no big danger of using the water heater that works on gasoline. Indeed, you cannot avoid a catastrophe if you are too careless in the use of the device. Fire is obviously to catch when you bring into contact flame or spark in the presence of invisible flammable vapors. You never need to panic while using these high performance devices. There are various arrangements already done to keep you safe.
Many smart manufacturers take the individual effort of examining this issue with all minute details after obtaining the approval, patents and copyrights from the Consumer Products Safety Commission. The study of the inflammable vapor issues was the primary study. Every manufacturer worked in developing different models and designs with inbuilt facilities that reduces the risks involved. Today there are so many kinds of successfully developed water heaters by these manufacturers that are gaining popularity in the common market.
The ANSI (American National Standards Institute) has introduced a new standard for the water heaters that have the capacity of boiling 30, 40, 50 gallons of water. The institute announced this standard on July 1, 2003. The standard is defined as “any heater meeting the above description made after this date must be designed so that vapors created by spilled gasoline near the heater will not ignite outside of the water heater”. This was supposed to be implemented with the given standard description by July 1, 2004. All other residential models must meet this same ANSI standard on or before July 1, 2005.
These water heaters have a very sophisticated, complicated and smart arrangement within. Let’s call it as a one-way technology. These are deployed in a way that the regular boiled vapor and the flammable air is allowed into the chamber of the heater. In this way, if accidentally, the inflammable vapors enter the combustion chamber and catch fire, the chances of rushing back out of the chamber are zero as it is a one-way scheme. There is no way the fire spreads as the heaters are provided with special sensors that actually detect any kind of combustion.
The maintenance of these, new age, water heaters is one thing that a buyer cannot afford to ignore. These heaters need to be kept away from dust. Dust is one of the factors that reduce the life of the heater. Gone are the days, when people cared less about the cleaning of these appliances.
Generally microscopic dust, lint, oil, sand particles etc. are notorious in somehow finding a store house inside your water heater. These are so minute that they can simply travel deep into the water heater and accumulate in that. This obviously affects the performance of these devices and reduces their life. So be cautious and select a place for the installation of the heater that is well away and completely isolated from various intruders. Of course, there are various heaters available in the market that comes with a filter to keep them safe from dust, oil and sand particles, however, the safest option would be to eliminate the reach of these particles from the heater.
One more advice to keep all kinds of disasters at bay is to have an official talk with a fire professional at your local fire department. You can clear all your queries regarding the fire prevention. Do not forget to get guidance on how can you treat these devices safely. Also take special assistance regarding the safe storage of gasoline, kerosene, and paint thinner, etc.
Carefully follow the installation guide and the steps for maintenance. Only these will aid in avoiding fire accidents that could occur because of silly carelessness. Keep your eyes and ears always open to monitor what is going around you in your house. Keep an eye on other inflammable materials that you use daily.
|
|
| |
|