Energy consumption

Plumbob

Yes, if you can live without hot water, you'll save money.

Art M.

Energy consumption

Generally speaking, is more energy being consumed with a boiler and an indirect water heater vs just the boiler.

Thanks

JBH_2

Yes.....

But not as much as the boiler, AND a seperate standard vent water heater.

Constantin

Also depends on the boiler...

... if you install a hot water coil into a boiler, it typically has to be run at much higher temperatures (i.e. greater standby losses) and the HX on the coil isn't usually that great of an HX either. So heating domestic hot water with an decent indirect water heater should beat a coil efficiency-wise.

It also depends on the efficiency of the boiler. Older units that used to run on coal that were then converted to gas or oil can have very low efficiencies, even lower than a standard gas water heater. On the other hand, I doubt that any water heater can beat the thermal energy efficiency of a fully-condensing boiler (standby losses are another matter).

George_10

Another factor in energy consmpton is how clean/treated the

system is. Cleaning and treating a system will help to maintain the design efficiency and thereby reduce possible wasted energy consumption.

Gunked up systems and scaled or corroded HXs and pump volutes deplete efficiency. Loss of efficiency results in higher fuel use.

We see this in spades in industrial situations. The only difference between industrial and home or small business applications is the dollars spent for energy are larger in the industrial world.

Higher efficiency means lower dollars spent to do the job.

The trend in fuel prices is on the rise and system efficiency is becoming more important than ever.