Central hot water or a heater in every bathroom?

The two approaches

The familiar approach in Egypt is a water heater per bathroom and one for the kitchen: electric or gas, storage or instant. Each serves its own taps.

A central system has one heat source, such as a boiler, a heat pump or solar collectors, often with a backup, feeding an insulated cylinder. Pipes then carry hot water to every bathroom and the kitchen, sometimes with a return loop so hot water arrives at the tap almost at once.

Comfort when everyone needs hot water

A small heater runs out when two long showers follow each other. A properly sized central cylinder is designed around the household’s peak, the morning rush, so the last shower is as hot as the first. Temperature is also steadier when another tap opens.

Instant heaters avoid running out, but each one must be big enough for its own shower, and gas instant heaters need a flue and ventilation in every bathroom.

Space, safety and maintenance

Central hot water takes the heaters out of the bathrooms and puts the equipment in one place, such as a utility room, roof or plant room. There is one system to service instead of four or five, and no gas appliances in bathrooms.

It does need that one place for a cylinder, and pipes to every bathroom, so it is easiest to plan in a new build or a full renovation.

Linking hot water to heating and solar

If the home has central heating, the same boiler or heat pump can heat the cylinder, so one machine does both jobs. Solar collectors can preheat the cylinder for much of the year, with the boiler or heat pump topping up on cloudy days.

Hard water is common in many areas, and scale builds up in any heater. A central cylinder can be protected with one treatment unit instead of one per bathroom.

At a glance