Water Heater vs. Hot Water Heater

[Belinda Barfield]

Okay folks, this is one of those little things that drives me crazy. So, in order to help me not sweat the petty stuff, please tell me which is correct.

My SO and I have always agreed that the appliance supplying hot water is a water heater (whether with tank, or tankless). However, after reviewing some drawings yesterday, in which there is shown a "hot water heater", he questioned if possibly that term is correct. He contended that maybe "hot water heater" refers to the actual apparatus that heats the water, such as an electrical element. In my book, same bloomin' thing. If the water was hot, you wouldn't need to heat it, therefore the proper term is water heater.

What say you?

[Mike Henderson]

Seems that you'd want to heat cold water. If it's already hot, why heat it?

Mike

[Dennis Peacock]

It's a water heater.....otherwise it would be a boiler.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Umm, I hesitate because I don't want to get into hot water,
but we had a water heater that was supplied by a solar water heater.
So it tended to get hot water fed to the water heater.
So the water heater was a hot water heater when the solar water heater would peter out of hot water to supply the water heater which heated hot water but the water gotter colder.
See, I told you I hesitated. It can get really cornfusing at times.

[Jason Roehl]

That's a good one, Dennis.

I'm with you, Belinda. It's a water heater. Unfortunately, I think "hot water heater" is just a small symptom of a greater disease in our spoken and written language--failure to learn it, and laziness in implementing what little they did learn. I see major mistakes in the tickers on various national news channels, I find mistakes in the newspapers, I've even found some in books (that used to NEVER happen ). I'm thankful that there is a modicum of readability on the two woodworking forums I frequent, but the truck forum I visit is a whole different story--I've seen posts that were one run-on sentence/paragraph with virtually every word spelled pseudo-phonetically. Then, when someone posts that they would help, but can't understand the original post, the original poster gets mad (which certainly doesn't help their spelling any).

If you can't spell, read--it will help, and not just with the spelling.

[Roger Warford]

Shouldn't it be called a "cold water heater" during winter?

[Roger Warford]

Hmmm... Now that I think about it, the hot air heater has been on a lot lately, but in a few months we'll need to the cold air cooler and few cool ones in the cold drink cooler.

[Chris Padilla]

I've seen posts that were one run-on sentence/paragraph with virtually every word spelled pseudo-phonetically. Then, when someone posts that they would help, but can't understand the original post, the original poster gets mad (which certainly doesn't help their spelling any).

well jayson you know it is just on of those things that pepel have to get used to on the internet when asking qwestins and it all depends on the topc and stuf you know and then there is the won person who all komplanes they dont get it or somethin but i think you are jest being rassisst is saying that truck drivres aren't not well edumatetd or sumthing but that jest isnt tru n stuff caue they work hard to lik your self and maybe didn't have apportunetees like you n stuff so jest like chill out and jest help them if you can and if you can't well they don't not say nuthin!!!1111

By the way, it is a Water Heater. Also, cold water isn't really cold...it just has a lack of heat!

[Larry Browning]

Hot water heater is sort of like queso cheese dip. queso is spanish for cheese, so it is like saying cheese cheese dip.

What really has me saying hmmm is.... When does laundry turn in to clothes and when does dirty clothes turn into laundry? Is it when the clothes enter the "laundry basket"? No, wait, we have a "dirty clothes hamper", so that is not it. I am so confused!!!!

And another thing... Is it flammable or inflammable? My English teacher wife says they mean the same thing. And what about non-inflammable? She looked it up. There seems to be no such thing. However, there is nonflammable which means not inflammable. So be careful when reading your paint can labels!

[Chris Padilla]

Larry,

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/flammable.html

Is ensure, insure, or assure??

[Larry Browning]

This is Larry's SWMBO English teacher, and I must apologize for his grammar. He should have written "do clothes" instead of "does clothes". He thinks clothes is a singular noun like the noun laundry. Please forgive him (and forgive me for butting in).

[Larry Browning]

Larry,

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/flammable.html

Is ensure, insure, or assure??

Ohh, let's not confuse things with the facts!

[Chris Padilla]

Effect or Affect???

To, Too, or Two???

Their, There, or They're???

[Karl Brogger]

Some of you would love George Carlin's rants on the bastardization and the softening of the English language.

Check out "When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?" from the library, or cheat and listen to it at work on a audio book at work like I did. Is it still an audio book if its an mp3?

[Rick Gooden]

To me the ultimate non-word is irregardless, regardless of what others might say.