Sunday, January 11, 2009

Seattle's water temperature

Q: what is Seattle's water temperature coming from the street into one's house?
A: 45 degree F

A little explanation::
I won't get into the fully backstory, but we need to move the water heater in the upstairs unit of our home comply with code. One option we've been considering is a tankless hot water heater. One thing that affects how effective they are is how much they have to increase the incoming water temperature to bring it to shower temperature (around 115 degrees F). In order to answer this question, you have to know the incoming water temperature. Ideally one would just run water over a thermometer, but I was not at home when I needed to know this, and I couldn't find the information online anywhere. Fortunately someone at Washington Water Heaters informed that incoming water for the Puget Sound is around 45 degrees F. I just wanted to post this so hopefully Google can redirect someone here and help answer the question.

1 comment:

ThatSeattleGuy said...

That can't be right - way too cold.

I just measured mine in Wallingford and it was 57 degrees (I let it run a LONG time and used an accurate thermometer.) I suspect it's a few degrees higher in the summer, a few colder in the winter - say a range of 55-60F.