Electric Boiler Recommendations and Advice Needed

Prevch

Has anyone every installed an electric boiler for in floor radiant heat? What was your experience like? Do you have any brands that you would recommend?

EdTheHeaterMan

There seems to be a trend to use Air to Water heat pumps for this. Since you do not need high temperatures for radiant floor heat and those heat pumps can get you 120° or greater water temperatures, they seem to be a great match. What size are you looking for, more or less than 50,000 BTUh?

hot_rod

What are your electric rates?

Here are a couple of my favorites. Electro is US built, Thermo 2000 is Canadian

https://electromn.com/electric-boiler/

Prevch

EdTheHeaterMan said:

There seems to be a trend to use Air to Water heat pumps for this. Since you do not need high temperatures for radiant floor heat and those heat pumps can get you 120° or greater water temperatures, they seem to be a great match. What size are you looking for, more or less than 50,000 BTUh?

Good question. Right now, I have a 200k BTU propane boiler that I absolutely hate and I want to get rid of it. That being said, I think it is way oversized for the house. I turn it down to 30% power and it still heats the house fine. I think I probably could get away with 50k BTU because all of our heat is in floor, but it really is just an experiment at this point. Have you ever heard of using a hot water heater to run the in floor heat? I'm wondering if I could get one of those hybrid electric models and just run off of that.

Prevch

hot_rod said:

What are your electric rates?

Here are a couple of my favorites. Electro is US built, Thermo 2000 is Canadian

https://electromn.com/electric-boiler/

Awesome thank you I will look into those. Have you ever heard of running the in floor heat off of a hot water heater? I was looking at one of those hybrid electric models. If it would work, I could see the advantages of it for sure.

Dave Carpentier

You should consider doing a heat loss calculation for the house. Guesstimating might work, but underestimating is obviously a problem, and overestimating wastes money. I used the SlantFin app (free at GooglePlay).
Electric heating -- What are your plans during a power outage ?
Ive toyed with the idea of electric boiler with a large storage tank and using time-of-day pricing to keep the electric bill reasonable.. but it keeps coming back to -- What to do during a power outage.

Robert_25

Prevch said:

What are your electric rates? Here are a couple of my favorites. Electro is US built, Thermo 2000 is Canadian https://electromn.com/electric-boiler/

Awesome thank you I will look into those. Have you ever heard of running the in floor heat off of a hot water heater? I was looking at one of those hybrid electric models. If it would work, I could see the advantages of it for sure.

Water heaters are not made for that type of duty cycle, and likely would not have enough capacity to heat your house.

Electric boilers work well, but are normally used only if the electric rates are very low.

Hot_water_fan

Have you ever heard of using a hot water heater to run the in floor heat? I'm wondering if I could get one of those hybrid electric models and just run off of that.

No, a heat pump hot water heater takes heat from indoors to heat the water so it would work out to be just resistance heating. Plus they’re too small for your load and aren’t made for central heating. Electric boiler for cheap install/expensive to operate or air to water heat pump for cheap to operate/expensive to install/option for cooling. You can always keep the propane boiler as backup. 

hot_rod

A common 4500w electric water heater, runs on a 30a 240v circuit gets you about 15,700 btu/ hr
5500 w upgrade gets you 18,755 btu/hr

So knowing the actual load is quite important.

Run some operating costs here

https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating

Prevch

Dave Carpentier said:

You should consider doing a heat loss calculation for the house. Guesstimating might work, but underestimating is obviously a problem, and overestimating wastes money. I used the SlantFin app (free at GooglePlay).
Electric heating -- What are your plans during a power outage ?
Ive toyed with the idea of electric boiler with a large storage tank and using time-of-day pricing to keep the electric bill reasonable.. but it keeps coming back to -- What to do during a power outage.

We have two wood burning stoves that can heat our whole house in the event of a power outage. I mean, we are honestly in the same boat now with propane. If the power goes out, the boiler does not work.

Prevch

Robert_25 said:

Prevch said:

hot_rod said:

What are your electric rates?

Here are a couple of my favorites. Electro is US built, Thermo 2000 is Canadian

https://electromn.com/electric-boiler/

Awesome thank you I will look into those. Have you ever heard of running the in floor heat off of a hot water heater? I was looking at one of those hybrid electric models. If it would work, I could see the advantages of it for sure.

Water heaters are not made for that type of duty cycle, and likely would not have enough capacity to heat your house.

Electric boilers work well, but are normally used only if the electric rates are very low.




They aren't low, but they aren't high either really. I am just done with gas/LP

Prevch

Hot_water_fan said:

Have you ever heard of using a hot water heater to run the in floor heat? I'm wondering if I could get one of those hybrid electric models and just run off of that.

No, a heat pump hot water heater takes heat from indoors to heat the water so it would work out to be just resistance heating. Plus they’re too small for your load and aren’t made for central heating. Electric boiler for cheap install/expensive to operate or air to water heat pump for cheap to operate/expensive to install/option for cooling. You can always keep the propane boiler as backup. 

I could, but it breaks every 5 minutes. I hate it so much.

Prevch

hot_rod said:

A common 4500w electric water heater, runs on a 30a 240v circuit gets you about 15,700 btu/ hr
5500 w upgrade gets you 18,755 btu/hr

So knowing the actual load is quite important.

Run some operating costs here

https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating

Thank you

KNPV_PSD

I just commissioned a Thermolec 18kw to heat my 40x60 shop in NW Montana. Financials worked for me because: a) no natural gas b) propane even when bought in summer varies from $2.19-2.49 c) we have very cheap hydro power at $.06/.07/.10 based on tiered usage. Cost was slightly cheaper for electric so for ease of installation and stabilized rates, I did electric.

The unit itself is nicely built, has a simple outdoor reset, and just works. My main complaint is it makes an electrical hum non stop when not heating but I am a little sensitive to sounds I find annoying….

Prevch

KNPV_PSD said:

I just commissioned a Thermolec 18kw to heat my 40x60 shop in NW Montana. Financials worked for me because: a) no natural gas b) propane even when bought in summer varies from $2.19-2.49 c) we have very cheap hydro power at $.06/.07/.10 based on tiered usage. Cost was slightly cheaper for electric so for ease of installation and stabilized rates, I did electric.

The unit itself is nicely built, has a simple outdoor reset, and just works. My main complaint is it makes an electrical hum non stop when not heating but I am a little sensitive to sounds I find annoying….

Thank you for that info

Mad Dog_2

One of the long time advertisers and friends  here, John Hazen White & Taco,  has a really nice Air-to-water  Model I can't wait to use. I'd check that out.  Mad Dog 🐕 

hot_rod

Thermolec, Electro MN, and Thermo 2000 all have nice electric boiler options.

Prevch

Mad Dog_2 said:

One of the long time advertisers and friends  here, John Hazen White & Taco,  has a really nice Air-to-water  Model I can't wait to use. I'd check that out.  Mad Dog 🐕 

Thank you!

Prevch

hot_rod said:

Thermolec, Electro MN, and Thermo 2000 all have nice electric boiler options.

Thank you!