The development of instant electric water heaters in China

In the current water heater market, storage electric water heaters and gas water heaters dominate. Solar water heaters have been developed in China for many years, but their market share still cannot compete with storage electric water heaters and gas water heaters. In the water heater market, no product seems to be able to compete in recent years. Shake the status of storage electric water heaters and gas water heaters. In recent years, a "bright spot" product has appeared in the water heater market, namely instant electric water heaters. Since the early 1990s, domestic companies have been involved in the instant electric water heater market, and the rapid growth stage has been in the past decade. Today, instant electric water heaters can be seen at major exhibitions in the home appliance industry. In home appliance chain stores, instant electric water heaters also occupy a place. What is the future development situation of this industry's "new star"? Can it replace the position of storage-type electric water heater? What kind of "bottlenecks" does industry development encounter? I hope that through this article, you can find the answer.

1. Instant electric water heaters are still in the exploratory stage in the Chinese market.

Since the birth of the first gas water heater in Japan in 1979, the development of the water heater industry has been rapid. The emergence of solar water heaters and storage-type electric water heaters has brought unprecedented new opportunities to the water heater industry, especially storage-type electric water heaters. , now share the world equally with gas water heaters. The emergence of instant electric water heaters has caused the "calm" water heater market to "surge" again. In the European market, gas water heaters and storage-type electric water heaters dominated the world 20 years ago. Today, instant electric water heaters account for 80% of the market share. It is also the huge market for instant electric water heaters that has made domestic companies start to get involved in this industry.

The instant electric water heater is rapidly heated by the fast-heating heating element (conduit) in the machine, and the temperature rises instantly, so that the cold water entering the machine is instantly heated to the user-set temperature within tens of seconds after flowing through the heat pipe for the user to use.

Instant electric water heaters are a new product for Chinese consumers, but from an industry perspective, instant electric water heaters are not an "emerging industry" because the emergence of this product can be traced back to the early 1990s. As early as 1992, domestic water heater companies entered the industry. However, limitations in consumer awareness, technology, and economic conditions at that time determined that this product could not quickly open the market. The rapid growth period of the instant electric water heater market started in the late 1990s, and the "prosperity" of this product began in Shenzhen. From this time on, instant electric water heaters began to show a rapid growth trend. Starting from Shenzhen, the opening up and development of the domestic market began to go smoothly. After 2000, some companies began to invest a lot of money in the promotion of instant electric water heaters. Facts have proved that some companies have achieved substantial results and product sales have reached a certain scale. Generally speaking, instant electric water heaters are still in their early stages of exploration in China.

2. Advantages of instant electric water heater

Instant electric water heaters are recognized in the industry as more energy-saving, convenient, and longer-lasting than other water heaters. Its outstanding advantages include:

1. No need to preheat, no need to wait: just turn on the faucet when using, and the heating time from turning on to the water temperature reaching 45 degrees only takes 30-40 seconds. It is very convenient and fast, and greatly meets the needs of modern people's fast-paced life. It is ideal for customers who need to provide hot water instantly or for a long time, such as barber shops, hospitals, schools, etc.

2. Save water and electricity: Since there is no need to preheat in advance, there is no heat loss during preheating. There is also no energy consumption of storage water heaters for heating unused residual hot water. It truly saves energy, electricity and water.

3. Can be connected in multiple ways: it can be connected to wash basins, showers, bathtubs, and shower rooms. The villa type can also be connected to multiple bathrooms at the same time.

4. Compact size, noble appearance, easy installation, and space saving: Instantaneous electric water heaters are only about the size of a shoe box, with a thickness of only about 100 mm. They mostly adopt humanized designs, streamlined appearances, and are noble and elegant.

5. Constant temperature, comfortable to use: The water temperature of the computer-controlled instant electric water heater can be controlled at ± 0.5°C. No matter how many people take a bath, as long as the water temperature is adjusted initially, it will maintain a constant temperature and flow, making washing refreshing and comfortable.

6. No scale and long service life: Cold water is heated directly after passing through the heating body and is classified as "living water", while the temperature of hot water for bathing is generally around 40°C. It is not easy to form scale, and the temperature of the heating element of the machine does not rise very much during the heating process. In this way, the damage rate of water channels and heating elements is greatly reduced. Therefore, the life of instant electric water heaters is 2-3 times longer than traditional storage electric water heaters.

7. Water pressure-free start: that is, it can be started as long as there is water flow. It is also very suitable for some high-rise buildings where water pressure is insufficient.

3. Industrial characteristics and problems encountered by instant electric water heaters

Since the 1990s, instant electric water heaters have been in China for more than ten years. From the beginning, a few companies produced this product, and now many companies have joined the market of instant electric water heaters. production and distribution ranks. It is worth mentioning that traditional large home appliance companies do not seem to be very enthusiastic about instant electric water heaters. So far, the production and promotion of instant electric water heaters are still dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. The enthusiasm of small and medium-sized enterprises for it is obviously higher than that of traditional large household appliance companies. Among them, Altera started a series of projects in the Chinese market in 2000. The publicity activities have indeed played an important role in the market promotion of instant electric water heaters. It should be pointed out that although a group of companies represented by Alteran have spared no effort to promote instant electric water heaters, in fact so far, the market share occupied by instant electric water heaters is only 1-2%.

It has been more than a hundred years since the birth of instant electric water heaters. Although the sales of instant electric water heaters, which are still in the exploratory stage in the Chinese market, have experienced rapid growth in recent years, they still have bottlenecks that keep consumers away.

1. High price, ordinary people "it's not easy to say I love you"

In the current high-end electric water heater market, instant electric water heaters are the leader.

2. High power and high line requirements.

In order to ensure that the instantaneous electric water heater can achieve the instant heating effect, the power of the instant electric water heater must be at least 6KW. However, in the cold winter, even the power of 8KW cannot guarantee enough heat and sufficient hot water for a comfortable bath. Moreover, the product's requirements for the power cord must be at least 2.5mm 2 or more, and some require 5 mm 2 or more. Such power and circuits are difficult to handle for the 15A current of ordinary Chinese household circuits.

3. The installation conditions are very demanding.

For example, some instant electric water heaters require that the water inlet pressure cannot be too high during installation. Some require the electric meter in the user's home to be 20A and the air switch to be 32A. Generally, independent circuits are required, and some even require a special meter of at least 40A. , plus other high-power household appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners in ordinary residents' homes, require at least an 80A meter and separate wiring.

4. The influence of north and south climate.

Our country has a vast territory, and the temperature between the north and the south is very different. In the north, the water temperature in the tap water pipes is relatively low in winter. If you want to bathe at a constant temperature, the flow rate at the outlet of the instant electric water heater is smaller than normal. In addition, the temperature in the north Low, if you want to pursue a hearty bath, it will be a bit difficult.

According to the current electricity meters and wires in domestic households, it is indeed difficult to bring instant electric water heaters into thousands of households. If the electricity meter is replaced for users, it is difficult for ordinary business stores to do it, and traditional home appliance stores and home appliance stores The audience of supermarkets is relatively narrow, which is also the reason that hinders the rapid popularity of instant electric water heaters.

4. Protection of instant electric water heaters

For electric water heater products, people are still worried about problems. In order to fully ensure the use of consumers, instant electric water heaters generally focus on the design in this regard, such as using non-metal heating bodies, water and electricity isolation technology, leakage protection devices, grounding protection and other measures. Some manufacturers' products also have Water control switch, sound and light alarm, patented circuit, magnetization anti-scaling, over-temperature power-off, high-voltage relief, electronic control, temperature display, graded power and many other functions, it can be said that in order to be foolproof, each instant heating electric Water heater manufacturers have put in a lot of effort.

How to achieve the protection of instant water heater?

From the analysis of structural materials, the heating methods of instant water heaters include electric heating tube heating, electric heating rod heating, glass tube heating and plastic tube heating. Therefore, the protection of instant electric water heaters needs to solve two problems. The quality of electric heating tubes and electric heating rods is very important. First, we must solve the technical problems of separating water and electricity and not directly immersing the electric heating wire in water. Secondly, we must solve the corrosion resistance, that is, we must not cause electric leakage due to direct contact with water after corrosion. There is a problem of taking bath with electricity.

What needs to be pointed out here is that the water and electricity separation technology adopted by glass tube and plastic tube type instant water heaters is still very immature. A common problem is that in cold winter, because the water temperature is very low, once the water enters the glass tube and is heated, the temperature on the outside of the tube wall is extremely high, causing the inside of the glass tube to shrink and the outside to expand, producing a large distortion force, causing the glass tube to burst. Or cracks, causing the current on the outer wall of the glass tube to directly dissolve with the water in the tube, making the water charged and endangering the lives of bathers. The same is true for plastic pipes, and the thermal conductivity of plastic pipes is very small, so the heat emitted by the outer wall cannot be effectively transferred to the water, resulting in a large waste of energy.

The leakage problem of instant electric water heaters affects the user's personal life, so companies have also increased their research and development and publicity efforts on this point. It can be seen from the promotion of instant electric water heaters that all brands attach great importance to leakage protection. At present, most domestic enterprises still adopt the principle of "protect where there is leakage" and take protective measures in various links that are prone to leakage.

Current instant electric water heater products have protective measures such as leakage protection, dry burning prevention, overpressure prevention, and overtemperature prevention.

5. New challenges faced by instant electric water heaters

According to statistics from the Institute of Market Economics of the Development Research Center of the State Council, sales of water heaters in my country have increased at an annual rate of 25% in recent years, and in the next five years, sales will reach nearly 50 billion yuan per year. According to relevant expert predictions, in the next 10 years, 33% of households in our country will move into new homes, which means that on average, more than 2.6 million water heaters need to be replaced every year. As far as instant electric water heaters alone are concerned, there will be 29% of urban households are ready to purchase instant electric water heaters, and the market space will reach 18 billion yuan. Although instant electric water heaters still have some shortcomings, the huge market space still attracts many companies to join, and companies are optimistic about the market prospects.

Although instant electric water heaters have indeed encountered certain obstacles in their promotion, since the Ministry of Construction promulgated the new national residential electricity standards in 1999, it has brought new opportunities for the further development and market expansion of instant electric water heaters. of dawn. Moreover, this standard is only a low requirement. If consumers are buying mid- to high-end residences, the design indicators of their residential electrical circuits will be better than the national standards. The problem of the high price of instant electric water heaters. Judging from the current market situation, the power of instant electric water heaters is relatively high, and the quality and manufacturing process requirements of various internal components are also high, which results in its market retail price being on the high side. If it is high, it will take a period of market cultivation to allow consumers to fully understand the product.

In addition to marketing issues, what are the urgent needs for companies to solve? In fact, companies themselves are constantly thinking about it. The core issues currently facing production companies should focus on how to improve the manufacturing process, improve the design level of waterways, and make improvements in the technical content of the product itself, the raw materials used, and the manufacturing process. Through careful research, the product's power saving, water saving, and characteristics can be maximized, making the product more comfortable, convenient, and durable.

Improve the applicability and popularity of electric water heaters, carry out large-scale production, reduce production costs, and develop more humane electric water heater products based on differences in temperature and water quality in various regions and consumer usage habits. Not only is every instant heating It is an important topic for electric water heater manufacturers to study, and it is also a new challenge faced by the entire electric water heater industry.