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Power cost of idle electric water heater
wrote:
Jonathan Ball wrote:
...Take a 1-foot cube, 1 x 1 x 1. The volume is 1 cubic
foot, and the surface area is 6 square feet. An n x n
x n cube of 2 cubic feet will have n = (approx) 1.26.
The surface area is 6 x 1.25^2 = 9.52 sqare feet. The
volume has doubled, but the surface area has gone up by
LESS than twice.
A lovely explanation, but larger tanks lose more heat.
Not relative to volume.
You're just not getting it. Here's a little experiment
even you, with your limited intelligence, can conduct
and perhaps even appreciate.
On a cool night, fill the largest kitchen pot you have
with water, almost to the brim, and bring it to a boil.
When it reaches boiling, take the pot of water and an
empty 1-cup measuring cup outside. Set the pot down,
and dip the measuring cup into the hot water and fill
it. Set it down next to the pot. Place the pot's
cover on the pot, and some type of covering on the
measuring cup; maybe a saucer. Go back into the house
and pour yourself some more of your cheap vodka.
45 minutes later, go back outside, and remove the
covers from the pot and the measuring cup. Stick your
fingers in the measuring cup, and decide if the water
feels cold, cool, tepid, warm or hot. Now do the same
with the large pot of water. You will find the water
in the large pot is substantially warmer than the water
in the cup.
The RATE of heat loss is based on the ratio of the
surface area to the volume, and because the larger
vessel has a SMALLER ratio of surface area to volume,
it will lose heat at a slower rate.
You are a bonehead.
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