Let us look at an example of how scale from untreated water
increases your energy costs.
A brand new electric water heater estimated energy
usage is $408 dollars a annually.
With only 1/4 inch of scale it will consume 40% more energy
resulting in that water heater costs $571.20 annually.
That is a $163 dollar a year extra cost just for the water
heater!
That is $816 dollars extra over a 5 year period!
According to the Dept of Energy
technical alert below, scale that is already present will reduce itself over
time! This is just a representation of possible savings from
the water heater scaling and does not include other potential savings from
dishwashers, hot tubs, pools, or even coffee machines! In addition there
are
potential savings of extending the life of your appliances when their workload
is reduced.
Can you really
afford not to have a Rhino protecting your family and appliances?
Energy-Savings Mechanism
The primary energy savings results from a decrease in energy consumption
in heating or cooling applications. This savings is associated with the
prevention or removal of scale build-up on a heat exchange surface where even
a thin film (1/32" or 0.8 mm) can increase energy consumption
by nearly 10%. Example savings resulting from the removal of calcium magnesium
scales are shown in Table 1.
A secondary energy savings can be attributed to reducing
the pump
load, or system pressure, required to move the water through a scale-free,
unrestricted piping system.
Scale Thickness Increased Energy
(inches Consumption (%)
1/32 8.5%
1/16 12.4%
1/8 25.0%
1/4 40.0%
Other Benefits
Aside from the energy savings, other potential areas for savings exist.
The first is elimination or significant reduction in the need for scale and
hardness control chemicals.
The prior build-up of scale on heat exchange surfaces has been
removed
over time. This last process has been noted as taking from 30 days to over
a year, depending upon the thickness and composition of the scale.
Department of Energy Technological Alert