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It all began in London, England in when a house painter by the name of Benjamin Waddy Maughan (and former inmate at the Islington Workhouse) patented the first instantaneous water heater that did not use solid fuel for domestic use. Prior to Maughan's invention, household's would heat water in batches over a gas stove - a time consuming and undoubtedly, awkward procedure. His wife, a British suffragette, born Fanny Elizabeth Seamer, surely must have been thrilled. Maughan's invention, originally name the Geyser after an Icelandic hot spring, allowed cold water at the top of the tank to flow seamlessly through pipes heated by hot gases from a burner at the bottom. In fact, this process was fairly dangerous because there was no flue to remove heated gases, resulting in improper ventilation.

Maughan's invention, indeed, would have inspired the work of Norwegian mechanical engineer, Edwin Ruud. Ruud, educated at The Horten Technical School in Norway immigrated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA where he was first employed by The Fuel Gas and Manufacturing Company. In , Ruud patented the first automatic, storage tank-type gas water heater, then continued to make many advancements in both tank-type and tankless water heater design and operation.

Modern Commercial Hot Water Systems, as we know them today, seem to have since evolved since from a series of inventions over the last century. Bateman Water Heating proudly continues on in this spirit of innovation. Our team of Engineers are continually searching for the latest advancements in hot water heating technology. We certainly have come a long way!

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The History Of Water Heaters

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Heating water has been an instrumental process for humans since long before recorded history. Early examples of fire used to heat stone ovens progressing through the explosion of examples seen in the industrial revolution forms a robust thread of innovative history; documenting hundreds of individuals, devices, and patents. The modern landscape of water heating is heavily regulated and dominated by giants of water-heating industry.

Understanding how this technology has progressed, and taking the time to consider the vast amount of ripples it has created throughout human history, is a worthwhile undertaking. The water heater is one of the most essential, if not the most essential appliance in people&#;s homes today. Questioning how humans have tackled this problem throughout history will give you an invaluable appreciation for something most people take for granted.

The history of water heaters accelerated quite extremely around the time of the industrial revolution. Fire-heated methods that had been in use for thousands of years quickly went the way of the dodo, while newfangled technology was invented and subsequently popularized as a mainstay of home construction and domestic life. Understanding how we managed to push this necessity as far as we have is an interesting and enlightening rabbit hole in and of itself.

Humble Beginnings to Widespread Solutions

Much like other common items which humans have used since time immemorial, water heating has a long history with no definitive start date. Since humans have been heating water for various reasons from before recorded history, there is no way of telling where the practice originated or what would have been the first method used. Still, since it is one of the most important and oldest human practices, it is crucial to not take it for granted.

In the old days, water heating had to be done with some kind of external and ready source of heat. Throughout most of recorded history, this has been done with metal vessels placed over fires. With the advent of the stove, it became a little bit more streamlined, but not by much.

Families wishing to bathe still had to drag out a large metal tub and boil individual pots of hot water in order to enjoy hot baths. Although this was an accepted practice and allowed for a kind of social bathing time between family members, it was a terrible inconvenience that limited baths to a once-a-week endeavor. Luckily enough, innovation was on the horizon.

In , after the advent of the industrial revolution, a patent was filed by Englishman Benjamin Waddy for a water heater that used gas. With no method of ventilation, Waddy&#;s heater was dangerous for usage in the home as it could possibly leak carbon monoxide. The next innovator to break new ground with water heating was the Norwegian Mechanical Engineer Edwin Ruud.

Ruud designed the first water heater that became popular for domestic usage. His water heater, patented in , solved some of the dangers and concerns that plagued Waddy&#;s design, most notably the absence of a flue to vent excess gas used for heating. With this invention, the world of storage water heating was ready for domestic popularization.

Despite his innovations, Ruud&#;s heater still suffered from some complications that wouldn&#;t see improvement until the so-called &#;golden era&#; of water heating during the early s. Many firms founded in the USA during this time provided new ideas and incorporated modern technologies to improve upon the general design of the water heater. Nowadays, we have heaters that employ all kinds of methods and design philosophies.

One notable improvement was the tankless water heater. Invented in , the coil immersion heater patented by Stiebel-Eltron was able to heat water instantaneously without the need for a tank to hold a reservoir of heated water. Due to varying innovations such as this, the water heater has become known by many different names in today&#;s day and age, such as geyser, boiler, dispersing pot, or electric urn.

Modern Day Examples

The storage-type heater is the most common type of heater used today. Many innovations upon Ruud&#;s original design over the years have allowed storage heaters descended from his original design to fulfill a wide range of roles in a variety of different homes and commercial establishments. Some areas of the world that pose different challenges for dispersing heated water, such as sparsely populated areas like Scandinavia, or densely populated areas like China. For different scenarios that render storage-type heaters inefficient, a wide range of either tankless solutions or mass-heating dispersal has seen a good deal of popularity.

The main problem with storage heaters is that they do not truly provide a constant flow of hot water. It is possible to use up the reserves of hot water, requiring patience to allow the heat to build back up again. This makes tank heaters less attractive solutions for large-scale complexes with a large amount of demand for hot water.

Centralized water heaters are more traditional, and are effective to this day for smaller buildings with less demand for hot water. However, for many modern domestic settings, such as larger apartment buildings with intermittent hot water demand, utilizing multiple POU (point-of-use) water heaters may be a better solution. The main advantage of using tankless heaters at points-of-use is that it provides a plentiful continuous flow of hot water, and allows for some energy savings under certain conditions.

Another thing that has become more common with the advent of modern water heaters is the shower. While some showering traditions existed before the advent of modern water heaters, the practice was far from common outside of areas with access to natural showers (such as waterfalls). Since the innovation of modern water heaters, the efficiency of constantly flowing clean hot water has made the shower quite commonplace.

The spread of the shower has minimized the amount of time we spend bathing, and has led to much more regular and solitary bathing habits in the west. Although public bathing practices persist in some areas as a luxury, the convenience of the modern shower is by far the most common form of bathing in today&#;s world. Other innovations in water heating and heat dispersion are sure to cause ripples such as these in the future, as well.

What The Future Has To Hold

There have been so many impactful innovations over the course of water heating history, it is hard to imagine a future without further innovation. Looking into the future; population density and evolving demographics are sure to pose new and different challenges to the human race. We will have to keep our water heating methods in pace with the necessities and challenges of a new generation, in order to evolve functionally as a society. Allowing knowledge and respect for these important pieces of technology to fade could inhibit future humans from reaching their full water heating potential.

Along with exciting new innovations we can expect to compromise for rapidly changing demographic needs, water heaters should gradually become less expensive, and more efficient. New concerns like utilizing recycled materials and maximizing re-usability have also come into play. Whatever the future holds for this important cornerstone of day-to-day life, it is important to remind ourselves not to take hot water for granted.

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