Abandoning Summer/Winter Boiler Domestic Water Tankless Coil

Beefboi99

I just recently bought a Home in Philadelphia Area that has a Summer/Winter Hookup Domestic Water Tankless Coil. The first thing I want to do when we move is to get rid of it haha. I can’t stand the thought of that boiler firing to get a shower.

My plan was to remove the domestic coil completely and just do and electric or Heat Pump water heater. Sorry for the crappy picture I did not take it. Are there typically 2 Aqua Stats for heating and DW? Not sure where the temperature is sensed on the domestic side. 

Jamie Hall

Yes there are two aquastats for a boiler with a domestic hot water coil.

Now. First, if you decide to abandon that coil, you will be much better off to disconnect it but not try to remove it. Just disconnect it, cap one of its pipes but DO NOR CAP the other. The odds of actually removing it from the boiler without creating more problems than you ever wanted are almost zero.

If you go straight electric it's going to cost you more for your hot shower than the boiler did. Hybrid water heaters are competitive in running cost provided you stay well within their capacity (otherwise they're no better than straight electric, but the capital cost is high and they require more maintenance.

Good luck.

EdTheHeaterMan

You may be cutting off your nose to spite your face. The boiler you have looks like there is about 6 to 8 gallons of water stored in the cast iron sections. submerged in that 6 to 8 gallons is a tankless coil that is making your hot water.

The replacement water heaters you speak of will hold a minimum of 40 gallons of hot water. Larger if you have a teenaged daughter. So you will be storing more hot water in the replacement water heater. Philadelphia Electricity ain't cheep, so you might want to look at the price of oil that contains 138,000 BTU per gallon and compare that to 3.142 BTU per Watt of electricity. Since you pay for electricity in Kilowatts then you will be paying for 3142 BTU per kW. (after calculating for combustion efficiency that is abort 35 kW = 1 gallon oil)

After you do the math you may find that leaving that oil burner operating over the summer for 6 or so gallons of oil per month might not be so bad. As I recall in the Phila Area (GO BIRDS) the lowest cost water heaters were the Natural Gas tankless, then the Oil Burners, then the Heat Pump Water Heaters (used efficiently) then the standard Electric water heaters. But that may have changed (I doubt it)

After you make the decision and want to disconnect the Tankless coil in your oil boiler, you need to remember to disconnect the pipes as Jamie mentioned. You will also need to tell your oil boiler control to stop making hot water. Just cutting the pipes does not make the control stop making hot water. The oil burner will keep making hot water that you can never use.
The control you have may not be able to do that. it all depends on the model number. If you have the L7224U then you are in luck. If you have the original equipment control L7248 then not so much.

There is an adjustment in that control that sets the Low Temperature operating set point. For you tankless coil that could be 150° to 170°. If you have the L7224U that feature can be lowered to OFF. Then the burner will not longer make hot water on standby. The only time the oil burner will operate is when there is a call for heat.

If you have the L7248 control (factory original) the you can lower the standby temperature to 120°. and the OFF feature is not available. This is better than nothing but it also means that the burner will maintain that minimum 120° boiler temperature all summer. So most people just shut off the burner switch in May and don't turn it back on until September.

Hope this info is helpful

Mr.Ed

Edit: 11 cent per Kw is equal to $4.00 Oil when comparing standard electric water heater to 80% oil burner water heater. There may be several other factors to consider. COP of heat pump hot water and the amount of time that the Hybrid water heater uses heat pump and how much time it uses electric resistance. Also there are more efficient oil water heaters and less efficient oil water heaters. So those numbers are subjective, you actual milage may vary

EdTheHeaterMan

After a closer look at that boiler, there may be another aquastat in another location. The model number of the boiler (when you get there) will give us access to the manual on line. That is where all the good stuff about that boiler is found.

Beefboi99

Thank you everyone for the input. I guess I didn’t realize that oil was as comparative or even cheaper than and Electric Tank Water heater. 

I guess for now I’ll keep track of how much oil I’m going through this summer and then see if it’s worth it to get rid of the domestic coil. 

I was also going through older threads and found this setup. I guess I could go this way if I end up installing an electric water heater. That way I can swap between them.

STEVEusaPA

@OP if you do the electric water/bronze circulator, I personally would still change the aquastat, change the system to cold start, and make the domestic hot water a second zone. Using a hydrostat 3250 you could make the domestic priority.

Beefboi99

STEVEusaPA said:

@OP if you do the electric water/bronze circulator, I personally would still change the aquastat, change the system to cold start, and make the domestic hot water a second zone. Using a hydrostat 3250 you could make the domestic priority.

What do you mean by a cold start? I am somewhat of a novice haha. 

random12345

Non-pro, homeowner here. I considered abandoning the tankless coil on my oil boiler as well, and getting a separate water heater. I'm in the Boston area. Ultimately, the installation quotes I got were so high, I just didn't want to go through the hassle. But every home is different. If you're planning on living there for a while I think it's worth abandoning the coil.

But if you really want to figure out the best option, some research is necessary. Who is your electric utility? Do you have gas service, and if so, who is your gas utility? Do you use a discount or full-service heating oil company, and if you call oil companies in your area, what are their prices? BLS and EIA track all of this data.

BLS energy prices for the Philadelphia area: https://bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/averageenergyprices_philadelphia_table.htm

In the state as a whole, here is the average weekly residential heating oil price since 1990: https://eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_dcus_SPA_w.htm. My guess is the oil companies in your area will charge somewhat higher prices than the state average.

Here is the state average residential natural gas and electric rates:
https://eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_a_EPG0_PRS_DMcf_a.htm.
https://eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/7?agg=0,1&geo=vvvvvvvvvvvvo&endsec=vg&linechart=~~~~ELEC.PRICE.PA-RES.A&columnchart=ELEC.PRICE.TX-ALL.A~ELEC.PRICE.TX-RES.A~ELEC.PRICE.TX-COM.A~ELEC.PRICE.TX-IND.A&map=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.A&freq=A&ctype=linechart&ltype=pin&rtype=s&pin=&rse=0&maptype=0
Check the box next to Pennsylvania and hit "Graph". I'd use the annual data series since you're heating water year round.

Here's a little calculator for comparing the options: https://efficiencymaine.com/at-home/water-heating-cost-comparison/.

Simply based on that information alone, if you have gas service, almost certainly the cheapest option will be a gas tank water heater. If not, then maybe a heat pump water heater, which I'm guessing will have an overall COP/EF of 2 to 3. The tankless coil EF is tough to know, but it will be quite low in the Summer (.4 or so) and better in the Winter. Gas tank water heater EF generally ranges from .54-.7. Electric water heater is the worst possible choice. You should keep your tank water heater set at 140 F to prevent legionella, and have the plumber install a mixing valve. Your water temperature is probably mid fifties so the temperature rise is 84 F. Try to figure out your total hot water usage per day https://energy.gov/energysaver/sizing-new-water-heater.

1 kWh = 3412.14 Btu. 1 gallon of B2 heating oil (2% biodiesel) = (.98*138490 + .02*127690) = 138274 Btu. 1000 cubic ft of gas = 10.37 therms.
3/27/23 price of oil = $3.81/gallon -> $3.81/1.38274 gal/therm = $2.76/therm
Electric rate = $0.193/kwh -> $5.65/therm
Gas rate = $1.48/therm

Get a few quotes, see how everything adds up, go from there.

STEVEusaPA

Meaning you don't need the boiler to maintain temperature, which is why you would want to change your boiler's aquastat.
With the domestic as it's own zone, when there is a call from the aquastat in the tank (detects a need to recharge the tank) the boiler will fire to recharge the tank. Done correctly there will be enough water in the tank to allow the boiler to recharge without the domestic water getting cold, unless you're filling a tub too fast.
With the correct boiler aquastat you can utilize both circulator hold off and domestic hot water priority.

Beefboi99

STEVEusaPA said:

Meaning you don't need the boiler to maintain temperature, which is why you would want to change your boiler's aquastat. With the domestic as its own zone, when there is a call from the aquastat in the tank (detects a need to recharge the tank) the boiler will fire to recharge the tank. Done correctly there will be enough water in the tank to allow the boiler to recharge without the domestic water getting cold, unless you're filling a tub too fast. With the correct boiler aquastat you can utilize both circulator hold off and domestic hot water priority.

Thanks for clarifying. I think for now I’ll see how much oil I use with the current setup then go from there. 

random12345

Beefboi99 said:

Thanks for clarifying. I think for now I’ll see how much oil I use with the current setup then go from there. 

You can do that, but I think monitoring your oil usage during the non-heating months is somewhat pointless. Looking at how much oil was delivered for your first Fall delivery sometime in Sept/Oct may not be totally accurate because maybe you still used your boiler for space heating in late Spring or early Fall. Unless you have one of those Wifi ultrasonic smart oil gauges. That would give you an accurate number probably. Even with that info, you still won't know for sure how much oil you're using for hot water in the heating season, and it doesn't change the fact that next to an electric water heater, you already know the coil is the least efficient, most expensive option available to you right now. Might be more useful to figure out hot water usage, cold water inlet temperature, hot water demand in your house (how many showers are taken back-to-back and for how long for example), installation cost, etc. I only mention this because Summer tends to be the best time to get work like this done. It's the off-peak season, you probably won't have to wait as long for potential installers to come by.

HVACNUT

Beefboi99 said:

Thank you everyone for the input. I guess I didn’t realize that oil was as comparative or even cheaper than and Electric Tank Water heater. 

I guess for now I’ll keep track of how much oil I’m going through this summer and then see if it’s worth it to get rid of the domestic coil. 

I was also going through older threads and found this setup. I guess I could go this way if I end up installing an electric water heater. That way I can swap between them.

That is what's known as an Aquabooster. This is the correct piping. More capacity but not as efficient as an indirect water heater. 

And you can't swap between them because the tank thermostat activates the circulator, not a heating element. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

You don't have to change the aquastat. Just install a switching relay to kill the line voltage feeding the aqaustat relay you have and wire your thermostat to the new relay, Much cheaper.

leonz

You have a very efficient way to make hot water quickly without a hot water heater with standing capacity.

You will cringe and not be happy with the cost of an electric water heater and the 220 volt high amperage cost per month of owning one to keep your water hot.

Wait till you fork over $3,000.00 for a 40 gallon propane water heater and then you can comment.

Leave it as is and enjoy the hot water, you are spending very little in present value dollars to have hot water
on demand and in ample supply as an electric hot water heater will run and run and run until the upper and lower elements heat the water that continues to come is slowly until the aquastat is satisfied.

An electric hot water heater "will run out of hot water" by the way.

A night rate wired water heater is no solution either and you will get very cold water until you either kick the timer over to 11:30 PM or just say (*&^%$%^&*( it and wait.

Leave it alone and enjoy hot water at the rate of 5 gallons per minute if you have old faucets.

As it is, if you are set with a one gallon per hour oil nozzle you are not burning that much oil to make your hot water everyday so please understand that changing it and adding plumbing and a water heater that will eventually fail from bad water or become sediment trapped and leak and it is going to be a costly and uneeded expense.

As long as you have the boiler cleaned and tested for efficiency every year you will be fine and if you are still adamant about changing things just have the nozzle changed to a smaller nozzle and enjoy the hot
water.

You do not have to worry about anything until your boiler is leaking at a weld or cracked so keep what you have please.

random12345

I don't think the OP is coming back, but I was playing around with the numbers, and the only way I see it's worth it to abandon the coil for a gas or heat pump tank water heater with his prices for gas/electricity/oil is if he's using a lot of hot water, like 100+ gallons a day. Big family it might be worth it. Probably would only save a few thousand dollars over 10 years, but that's not nothing either.

Beefboi99

Thank you everyone for the advice. I plan to keep the coil because it will just be 2 people living in the house for awhile. 

There is also no radiators in the basement. Is this something to be concerned about? Should I look into an outside air intake so it keeps the basement warmer? 

Jamie Hall

Basement radiators were rare -- back in the day, the basement was a workshop or food storage area. Sso not to worry if it's warm enough for whatever you are doing. Unless your house is very tight or the boiler is in a smaller room, you'll likely not need an outside air intake.

random12345

@Beefboi99 I think you're making the right choice. When that boiler finally does die though and you have to replace it, I wouldn't get another tankless coil at that point! If you do want to save some money in the meantime though, you can insulate your hot water pipes. Great return on investment there.

Beefboi99

Jamie Hall said:

Basement radiators were rare -- back in the day, the basement was a workshop or food storage area. Sso not to worry if it's warm enough for whatever you are doing. Unless your house is very tight or the boiler is in a smaller room, you'll likely not need an outside air intake.

Ok thank you. I guess when I have a boiler tech check it before heating season I’ll see what he thinks. The burner was replace 11/22 so I think the tech that replaced it would have looked into if it needed an outside air inlet. 

Beefboi99

random12345 said:

@Beefboi99 I think you're making the right choice. When that boiler finally does die though and you have to replace it, I wouldn't get another tankless coil at that point! If you do want to save some money in the meantime though, you can insulate your hot water pipes. Great return on investment there.

Yea insulating the pipes sounds like a good idea 

dullknife1

Learn how to adjust your triple aqustat we can’t see cause you did not pull the cover.  Get all the info you can on direct hot water, because they all suck!!!  Mostly because the consumer thinks when he turns on his hot water 75’ away from the heater and still had to wait, you’re getting a call forever!!

EdTheHeaterMan

dullknife1 said:

Learn how to adjust your triple aqustat we can’t see cause you did not pull the cover.  Get all the info you can on direct hot water, because they all suck!!!  Mostly because the consumer thinks when he turns on his hot water 75’ away from the heater and still had to wait, you’re getting a call forever!!

I'm trying to understand what the heck you are trying to say here?

Has @Beefboi99 mentioned the hot water needs to travel 75 feet?

And what ALL sucks? The tankless coil?, The aquastat? The Aquastat cover? The Consumer?

...and what exactly is a "Direct Water Heater?" Maybe any water heater that is not an indirect water heater?

Or am I just too old to understand this new language and grammar of the next generation?

Please Help translate

ethicalpaul

> Thank you everyone for the input. I guess I didn’t realize that oil was as comparative or even cheaper than and Electric Tank Water heater.

This is hardly settled. I cut off a hot water coil in my previous home and replaced it with a straight electric water heater and never regretted it once. You'd have to be an oil contractor to want to do otherwise in a residential situation.

If you go straight electric, look at the Rheem Marathon. It is a highly insulated plastic tank that will never rust out.

But I recommend going with a heat pump water heater, which your state may likely pay you to install with incentives, and which, despite the hatred for them here, do not require any more maintenance than a dehumidifier. Mine's been running for 25 cents per day in expensive electric NJ for 3 years without a peep. I did get a 5 year warrantee and I don't expect to need it, but it was nice peace of mind.

random12345

@ethicalpaul What is the overall average annual COP of your HPWH?

ethicalpaul

My COP is exactly "cheap as hell"

random12345

I thought your WH might display info about the EF or COP is why I asked. Unfortunately, that graph doesn't tell me much. I don't know what your hot water usage is, usage patterns, the temperature of your water supply, the temperature of your hot water...FWIW I don't hate heat pumps. Not at all. It's an amazing technology. If a heat pump saves me money over other options, and there are no other downsides in terms of reliability, noise, performance and so on, I want one. The problem is every field study I've read so far has found the actual EF or COP is between 2 and 3, and that's for heat pump only mode. At the OP's energy rates, unless he installs it himself, my guess is the installation+equipment cost is easily several thousand dollars, and that is likely to completely wipe out any realized operating savings over 10 years. I don't believe in using rebates, because I think they're unethical. I played around with this calculator, but I just don't see how it would save him anything. I'm not even sure a two-person household would or could break even. When I first heard about HPs I thought they had great potential, but I think the days of cheap electricity are over, and it now makes more sense to avoid electrification. I'm at $0.40/kwh!

https://efficiencymaine.com/at-home/water-heating-cost-comparison/

ethicalpaul

It would be cool if it did display COP but I don't think it does. I don't think I've seen a heat pump that did, but my sample size is small. Do the real nice ones tell you a live reading of their COP ?

My water is 130F in the tank. I appreciated being able to get rid of a gas appliance and its hassles and heat loss out the flue. Payback is always tough with hot water when even a resistance heater only runs like $600-$800 per year.

random12345

I don't know. If you have a Rheem Proterra, that looks like the nicest one available right now. These people did a field study in 2021. I was mistaken. It's actually the EF not the COP that matters. Looks like you would need a bunch of different sensors to measure it properly:
https://slipstreaminc.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/heat-pump-water-heaters-cold-climates.pdf

EdTheHeaterMan

@random12345 and @ethicalpaul. This is all quite interesting. I want you to know that I purchased a Home in South Carolina with a Whirlpool 50 gallon electric water heater. The seller of the home installed one of those timers on it. I disconnected the timer so the water heater will operate when ever the thermostat sees fit to do so. I don't care how much it cost to operate it, because I can afford it. I think that is how most home owners think about the hot water in their home.

Unless the cost to operate becomes unaffordable, you will probably just leave it alone until the thing breaks or leaks. then you need to spend the money to replace it anyway. Then MAYBE they will look at what is the pay back on the difference in cost between one choice an another. And only if those choices are offered at the time of the emergency.

It all depends on the situation at the time of the event.

ethicalpaul

> you will probably just leave it alone until the thing breaks or leaks

You know me better than that

random12345

@EdTheHeaterMan I agree that seems to be how most people think. And often that makes sense. But I like digging into things. That's just how I am. I'm interested in these topics as well. And prices are always changing. For example, a few years ago, electricity was $0.23/kwh, and now it's $0.40/kwh for me. That's a game changer. I try to always remember opportunity cost. The real cost of something is not the pricetag, it's the pricetag+the loss of potential gain from other alternatives. In the big picture, a water heater is not going to greatly affect anyone's financial trajectory, but anything you save can be invested in some way, and by not saving you also lose out on those potential returns. It can add up.

Beefboi99

Currently at my apartment I am using roughly between $2-$5 a day in electricity at $0.17kw. I have a standard 50 Gallon Bradford White electric tank Water Heater. I use ~150 gallons of water per day between 2 people, unsure how much is hot water. 

I will be paying the same rate I am now at the new home. Is the oiler boiler I have still as cost effective to operate rather than a tank electric? I am thinking not now. 

random12345

Here's the way I think about this. Even if you were going to install the electric tank water heater you have now in the new house doing all the pipework/plumbing yourself, at $3.81/gallon or less, you likely wouldn't save anything. What's more, a new electric water heater installed by a pro would be the worst possible choice for your new house. I can't see how you wouldn't lose money on that. My guess is, if you're on here, you are not going to attempt to do any kind of installation yourself. So both of those options are out. However, a heat pump or natural gas tank water heater might save you a few thousand over 10 years, which is the life expectancy of these devices, but only if your hot water usage is around 75 gallons a day. By hot water, I mean the heated water in your tank, not what comes out your tap. 75 is higher than average for 2 people though. You can measure the flow rate from your shower head by seeing how long it takes to fill up a 5 gallon bucket for example, and then time yourself and the other person in the shower for a week to get the total average daily amount of water used. You would also need to know the cold, tank, and shower water temperatures to get an idea of how much hot water you're using. You'd still need to get some quotes from installers. What you invest in a new WH could have been invested in something else getting say a 3% return for 10 years, so that number has to be compared to the energy savings invested at the same rate for 10 years. https://investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculatorI honestly think it's a long shot you would save much, if anything, but let me know how it turns out.

Beefboi99

That all sounds good if I don’t use more than a gallon of oil a day. I think I’ll see how much oil I use but ultimately i will be installing an electric or Heat Pump Water heater if I’m using on average for everything electric in my apartment including Electric Tank Water heater and spending $3.50 a day.  

random12345

As I said before, I don't think that's the right way to go about making this decision because it's not that simple. The efficiency of a tankless coil is much lower in the non-heating season (0.4 or so vs maybe 0.6 or even higher in Winter), and you may not get an accurate measurement of oil usage in the Summer anyway, plus you won't know how much oil you use for hot water alone in the heating season, and the less hot water you use in general, the less likely getting a new water heater will pay off. But if you want to go about it this way, that's fine by me. I hope it works out for you.

john123

why is the tankless less efficient in the non heating season?

random12345

I'm just a homeowner, not in the HVAC industry but I take an interest. Tankless coil requires the boiler to maintain a high temperature all the time. So the standby losses are higher during the non-heating season when there is no demand for space heating. In contrast, during heating season, because the boiler is firing to satisfy the thermostat, you are essentially getting "free" hot water. The standby losses are still there, just not as significant. Tom Butcher has done some research on this, and I've found his papers to be most informative. Google "Tom Butcher tankless coil" you'll get a number of results such as this one:
https://bnl.gov/isd/documents/41399.pdf
Appendix 1 shows the efficiency under different load conditions.

EdTheHeaterMan

john123 said:

why is the tankless less efficient in the non heating season?

This is a given. A no brainer. An automatic assumption when you are in the trade. As for a person new to or from outside the trade, I can understand the question. Technically when calculating fuel usage for a customer to anticipate when the next fuel delivery should be, we use a system where a particular customer would be assigned a K Factor. This number is basically a gallons per degree day number. Degree Days are a measurement of how cold any particular day is. So we can predict when the fuel tank will accept enough oil to make the delivery worthwhile, without letting the tank go too low where you may run out of oil. (that is the automatic delivery calculation that fuel delivery dealers use in a nutshell). The Natural Gas and Electric utilities also make predictions based on Degree Days.

When a customer has the Hot Water source connected to the same oil tank as the heating system, the tank will use oil even if there are no heating degree days calculated for that day. (like in the summertime). In order to account for that fuel use, we typically add 6 degree days per day above 65°F. We call them Hot Water Degree Days. (anything above 65° is the temperature we assume there will be no oil used to heat the home, so no heating degree days will accumulate). So every summer day we add 6 Degree Days to the customer's account. In the Spring and Fall we use less Hot Water Degree Days per day. If the total degree days of any given day were say 5 or more then we would only add 5 Hot Water degree days. If we accumulate 10 or more degree days then less Hot Water Degree Days are added. Eventually when the outdoor temperature is very cold and we are wracking up 30 or more heating Degree Days per day, then we add no Hot Water Degree Days. So this means that the more the heating boiler operates for heat, the less the hot water will actually cost the consumer to use.

Another way to look at this is, if you are not using the boiler to heat the home, then the minimum water temperature is where the boiler will maintain temperature. In many cases that will be between 145°F and 160°F. So if you take a shower for 5 minutes, (assuming no teenage daughters) the cold water will pass through the boiler water at 145°, bringing it up to 120° for the shower for 5 minutes. The boiler temperature will drop accordingly and the burner will run to replenish that heat used up by the hot water coil.

In January, the same coil in the same boiler that is operating near the high limit temperature of maybe 200°F because the home is using the burner to heat all the rooms in the house, that same cold water will get much hotter passing through the 200°F boiler water. Since there will be a mixing valve to safely reduce the water temperature from that 200° water down to the safe water temperature of 120°F the mixing valve would add more cold water and less hot water to the mixed temperature port of that valve to arrive at the 120° at the same GPM in the shower. So less GPM of heated water and more GPM of cold water is going to the shower in the very cold winter days. 200°F boiler water will make much more hot water than 145°F boiler water. It is simple mathematics. Or simple thermodynamics. Or just plain common sense if you take the time to look at all of what is happening.

I hope this explains it a little bit.

Mr. Ed

hot_rod

random12345 said:

I'm just a homeowner, not in the HVAC industry but I take an interest. Tankless coil requires the boiler to maintain a high temperature all the time. So the standby losses are higher during the non-heating season when there is no demand for space heating. In contrast, during heating season, because the boiler is firing to satisfy the thermostat, you are essentially getting "free" hot water. The standby losses are still there, just not as significant. Tom Butcher has done some research on this, and I've found his papers to be most informative. Google "Tom Butcher tankless coil" you'll get a number of results such as this one: https://bnl.gov/isd/documents/41399.pdf Appendix 1 shows the efficiency under different load conditions.

Plenty of data to sift through in that report
on the first test, efficiencies drop into the lie 49% for short tankless coil demands. So the summer to winter efficiency changes quite a bit

random12345

What I would like to do at some point is find a way to control the aquastat via wifi. So basically the boiler would be cold start, and the aquastat would be disconnected from the burner, but if I want to take a shower, I push a button on an app on my phone, and the aquastat I already have "turns on" and operates as normal with a high limit of 190, diff 20. The tankless coil would be operating more like a tankless water heater. I'm wondering if I can do this with a Honeywell T775 maybe connected to a wifi smart plug. Should pay for itself in a few months over the Summer.

dko

You could do that with an inline wifi switch installed