This spreadsheet calculator includes…
- A simple calculator based on typical water usage by number of bedrooms.
- A detailed calculator that can be used to estimate total water usage. This allows you to build an estimate from the “ground up” by looking at each usage amount, how often it occurs, the temperature, and how much water each usage represents. It also takes into account the cold water temperature, the hot water tank temperature and the usage temperature.
- A comparison between the cost effectiveness of heating water with electric resistance, heat pump water heater or solar hot water. The “compare” tab allows you to compare the total installed cost of these three, including photovoltaics (PV) to provide the amount of electricity required for each of the three. This allows you to look at the least cost approach to net zero domestic water heating.
An important part of understanding how buildings, or systems within them, are performing, is to compare your expectations to what you actually measure. Sometimes a discrepancy between these two can inform your expectations, and sometimes a discrepancy will point out an error in measurement or analysis.
Enroll and learn to measure your residence/building (hot) water usage with this multi-faceted spreadsheet calculator!