If yours is a typical family, daylight brings about a multitude of showerers and bathers preparing for the business day, child and home care day, and school day. Invariably, this entails a lot hot water hogging while various family members stand outside the bathroom doors shouting Hurry up! I m late! Financial-conscious fathers mutter What s she doing? I could have bathed a baby elephant with that much water. Woe to the last person in the bathroom line; he or she is the most susceptible to having to make do with a barely-tepid hasty dowsing. Showers, shampoos, baby baths, make-up applications, hair styling, even coffee-making all involve the strenuous use of the family home s water heater. Thus, the water heater s gallon capacity and the rapidity of its ability to heat much-needed water are of serious priority. Consider: even after family members depart for school or work, stay-out-home spouses still have laundry to do, dishwashers to fill, and floors to mop. Again, the water heater s dependability and capacity is sorely tested. By the end of the day, when dinner dishes are washed, baby is bathed, and faces are washed, your water heater is the un-noticed hero; when you turn on the hot water faucet, you usually get what you expect and only notice this appliance when it s not working.

What Kind Of Water Heater Is Best For Me?

That depends. If you and your partner are the only ones in the home, you will likely do well with a smaller water heater that has instant demand capability. This means that the heater turns cold water into hot water very rapidly. These water heaters need to be fairly small around 20 gallons to heat up quickly.

However, a family of four will do much better with a water heater with a capacity of 50-60 gallons to meet the morning, daytime, and evening needs of personal hygiene, cooking and cleaning. Once the hot water supply is depleted, it usually takes about an hour for the hot water to appear in your faucets.

Expense is another thing to consider when purchasing a water heater for your home. You can buy a good-quality heater for $300-700 depending upon how many gallons you require to meet the needs of your family and whether you also purchase a warranty (recommended).

Finally, your water heater uses a variety of heat sources; natural gas, electricity, even solar power. With electric heaters you don t have be concerned about losing the pilot light as with gas heaters, nor does your hot water availability depend upon the strength of the sun. Electric water heaters are a bit more expensive; you pay extra for the assurance that barring an electrical failure, your family s needs for baths, showers and clean dishes is assured.

Coleman 5053A751 ProCat Perfectemp Catalytic Propane Heater with Instastart Technology

Coleman 5053A751 ProCat Perfectemp Catalytic Propane Heater with Instastart Technology The Coleman 5053A751 ProCat Portable Catalytic Propane Heater with Electronic Ignition can provide you with heat when everything else fails. Whether its a garage, shop, house, tent, or ice shanty this cordless heater is designed for indoor use and is ready to go whenever you might need some warmth.

Constructed with 3,000 BTU, the catalytic heater with platinum technology provides flameless heat from a pressure-regulated propane fuel system that produces a steady fuel stream, even in cold weather, high altitudes, or when fuel is low. This portable heater features a fan, powered by two D batteries (not included), for better heat circulation. The Coleman ProCat operates for up to eight hours on 16.4-ounce Coleman propane cylinder.

Manufacturer Warranty
Limited lifetime warranty

Customer Review: High elevation heat
We live at about 6800 ft elevation, so when we go camping it's usually over 7000 ft. We bought this because the Mr. Buddy heater doesn't function over 7000 ft. We've used it twice and each night was in the mid 30s. The first night we didn't know what we were doing so we just fired it up at bedtime. It was already cold at that point and the heater couldn't heat up the air space in our two room tent very much. The next night we started it while it was still warm and we were able to stay ahead of the cold temp. However, the propane canister emptied and the heater fan blew cold air for who knows how long before we woke up to change it. Then we were in the same boat as the night before. Next time we'll probably pack an alarm clock and plan on waking up to change canisters to stay on top of the temperature. We are very pleased with the performance and now we know to just plan ahead. (It would be nice if it could run off a bigger propane tank, I don't know if there is an adapter kit available.)