oil or electric for domestic hot water

RyanC

I have a 20 year old Burnham V33 that supplies steam for my heat.  It also supplies hot water through a tankless coil.  In terms of cost to run is this equal to an electic hot water tank?  Would I be better off switching to an electric tank?

Thanks,

Ryan

Robert O'Brien

Depends

on what you pay for oil and electricity. One Kwh is 3400 BTU's.One gallon of oil is 140,000 BTU's. Convert your cost to per BTU and you'll have the answer.Don't forget to multiply the oil number by the eff of the boiler

Charlie from wmass

Heres more ideas

an indirect water heater would allow for your boiler to be cold fire. This means not having to keep the whole boiler to 180 all summer if you do not need the hot water. It also can help if you have volume issues with the old tank-less and supplying fixtures a better flow of water at an even temperature. Instead of scalding hot to tepid.

RyanC

What is an indirect water heater?

Not to sound dumb but what is an indirect water heater?

DanHolohan

Indirect

It's a storage tank for the domestic hot water. It's like a water heater but it has no flue or fire inside of it. Instead, it has a coil through which boiler water circulates. The boiler treats it like a heating zone. Some indirects have tanks within tanks rather than coils. Other's have the boiler water in the tank and the domestic water in the coils. Many ways to get to the same place. When you're not using water they act like a Thermos. 

Charlie from wmass

Indirects are Great when done well.

I prefer the ones with coils as the coil is below the water line( on most models) of a steam boiler.

RyanC

Indirect hookup?

So I would have to pump the boiler water out of the boiler and through the coil in the indirect heater?

Charlie from wmass

yes

That is how you do it.