Water heater

Claim 1

A water heater, comprising: an elongated cylindrical annular water jacket to be vertically disposed and having an inner wall and an outer wall and means to circulate water through said jacket from the top of said jacket to the bottom; a source of forced hot gas; a conduit formed by said inner wall for conveying hot gas from said source through the heater from the bottom to the top thereof, said inner wall being the sole and direct means of separation between the water and the hot gas and thereby forming a heat transfer wall; a series of baffles centrally disposed within said conduit positioned to divide said conduit into a plurality of sections disposed longitudinally and sequentially in said conduit, said baffles being cylindrically shaped and smaller in diameter than said conduit, the wall of each said cylindrical baffle being substantially parallel to said inner wall, said baffle having a closed end disposed towards the top of said heater and an open end disposed towards the bottom of said heater, said baffles also having an outwardly protruding lip at the bottom thereof for sealing engagement with said inner wall only by thermal expansion of said baffle during the operation of said heater; the wall of each baffle having a predetermined number of apertures for forming impingement jets of hot gas and for directing said jets substantially perpendicular against said inner wall, wherein the apertures in each baffle represent the sole means of gaseous communication between sequential sections; a rod connected to said baffles for unitary removal thereof during the servicing of said heater; and a plurality of vanes within said jacket for deflecting water flow within said jacket for lengthening the path traveled by water within the jacket.