DES MOINES, IA - During the fall of 1999, Better Homes and Gardens magazine began planning an environmentally friendly "Healthy Living" house to be featured in the magazine's November, 2001 issue. Like most modern custom homes, the Better Homes and Gardens project demanded a hot water supply well beyond the capacity of a typical residential water heater. To meet the home's particular need, the magazine's editors selected A.0. Smith Water Products Company's Cyclone XHE® gas water heater.

Better Homes and Garden's "Healthy Living" house was designed for a family of seven, with four and a half bathrooms, a laundry room and two full kitchens, each with its own dishwasher. Adding to the hot water load was a two-person shower in the master bath equipped with six body sprays, two standard showerheads and a personal spray.

A.0. Smith's 100-gallon, 150,000 Btu Cyclone XHE water heater provides 260 gallon peak demand output (the amount of hot water available during the first hour of concentrated use). Cyclone output was more than adequate to meet the special demands of the "Healthy Living" house and more than triples that of a 50-gallon, 40,000 Btu gas water heater, a size commonly used in residential construction.

Better Homes and Gardens also found the Cyclone XHE met their environmentally friendly criteria. The unit's patented Dynamix Cyclonic Burnerâ„¢ meets the new clean air NOx emissions requirements developed by SCAQMD. In addition, its 94% thermal efficiency rating increases fuel savings by 16% over standard residential gas water heaters, conserving natural resources and lowering energy costs.

The magazine's blueprints also posed daunting installation challenges. The water heater had to fit in a confined space, along with a water purification system and furnace, in a sealed mechanical room with an epoxy floor. Cyclone XHE met the challenge in part because it is designed to fit in an absolute minimum of space, with It zero clearance" to combustibles and combustible floor approval.

In addition, Better Homes and Gardens designers took advantage of Cyclone's sealed combustion/power direct-vent capability. In today's tightly insulated homes, gasfired appliances can experience performance problems due to a lack of indoor ventilation, which reduces the amount of air available for proper combustion. This phenomenon is known as "negative indoor air pressure".

Installed in a power direct-vent configuration with PVC vent piping, the Cyclone XHE eliminated this potential problem by drawing all air needed for combustion from outside the home. The sealed system also eliminated the potential for improper emission of combustion gases into the home, another plus on the magazine's "Healthy Living" checklist.

According to Nathan Wright, A.0. Smith Water Products Company's director of marketing, "Cyclone XHE was originally developed as a water heater for restaurants, apartment buildings and other commercial applications. More and more, however, we're finding Cyclones being installed in residences, particularly in upscale custom homes. Large whirlpool baths, luxury showers, multiple bathrooms and modern lifestyles in general can create a tremendous demand for hot water. We're very pleased to have this opportunity to present Cyclone to consumers in Better Homes and Gardens."

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, A.O. Smith Water Products Company is a leading manufacturer and marketer of residential and commercial water heaters and hydronic boilers.

For more information, contact A.O. Smith at 600 E. John Carpenter Freeway, Rochelle Park, Suite 200, Irving, TX 75062; www.hotwater.com

Publication date: 05/08/2001