Electric boiler

hhh2712787

I am considering changing my oil boiler for electric boiler which will be used specifically for hydronic baseboard would I be able to run it I have 100amp coming to the house whole house will be electric powered.this is the one I am considering electro

EMB-M2-12-240-1

hot_rod

The 12 KW model?  It requires a 45 amp circuit according to the installation manual. You would want a qualified electrician to look over your breaker or fuse box to see if you have the capacity

why the switch?

Jamie Hall

I read a 60 amp breaker, @hot_rod n Am I on the wrong line? Actually, I don't find that specific model number, but -12 looks like 12 KW.

That little puppy will take half your available power when it's running. As @hot_rod said, have an electrician check your service drop from the street, your main breakers, and your circuit box to see if you have the capacity to run this.

Honestly, I don't think you do.

If your whole house is going to be electric -- I presume that you mean including such things as an electric stove, that will take another 40 amps. You won't be able to run anything else to speak of... not even a toaster. Or the refrigerator. Or...

Do you really want to do this?

And why? Unless your electric rates are really low, it's going to cost you a small fortune to run, too.

Mosherd1

It’s really pushing a 100 amp service in an all electric house, hot water heater (4500 watt element= 18.75 amps on a 30 amp breaker) stove= ~35 amps, boiler (12,000 watt = 50 amps), dryer ~25 amps. 19+35+50+25=124 amps without any other load running. Every all electric home I’ve worked in has had a 200 amp service. 

Robert_25

100 amps is typically not adequate for an “all electric” home with electric heat, and as Jamie noted - unless you have very low electric rates that electric boiler will be quite expensive to operate.

hhh2712787

I got solar panels so far I have a excess of 300khw per month so I would like to remove oil boiler completely  and the electric boiler will only be used very little in winter as I have a mini split that heats also

hhh2712787

Currently have electric domestic hot water  changing to electric dryer stove is still propane I really just want to stop oil usage so far I am in NY oil boiler starts only 4 hours a day since mini split heats also

hot_rod

Jamie Hall said:

I read a 60 amp breaker, @hot_rod n Am I on the wrong line? Actually, I don't find that specific model number, but -12 looks like 12 KW. That little puppy will take half your available power when it's running. As @hot_rod said, have an electrician check your service drop from the street, your main breakers, and your circuit box to see if you have the capacity to run this. Honestly, I don't think you do. If your whole house is going to be electric -- I presume that you mean including such things as an electric stove, that will take another 40 amps. You won't be able to run anything else to speak of... not even a toaster. Or the refrigerator. Or... Do you really want to do this? And why? Unless your electric rates are really low, it's going to cost you a small fortune to run, too.

Looks like two 45A breakers!

Jamie Hall

So you have an excess of 10 KWh per day. That's wonderful. It's also trivial. That would run your electric boiler for at most 45 minutes. On a cold day it might run your mini-splits for an hour and a half. If it's not a cloudy day.

At the risk of infuriating, please learn some arithmetic and do the math before you commit to this. Your numbers simply don't add up, and regardless of the dreamy propaganda, physics isn't a matter of preference.

hot_rod

Here is a handy calculator. Be sure to use the actual delivered costs, including all the access fees, delivery charges, taxes, etc
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating

pecmsg

hhh2712787 said:

I am considering changing my oil boiler for electric boiler which will be used specifically for hydronic baseboard would I be able to run it I have 100amp coming to the house whole house will be electric powered.this is the one I am considering electro

EMB-M2-12-240-1

WHY
Triple or quadruple your winter electoral. That will put you in the ball park of what it will cost for heat!
Tighten the envelope. 
get a properly sized boiler. 

Have it serviced every year by a qualified technician. 

Than you’ll save on heating!

hot_rod

Really no need to guess or speculate. Looks like oil is running around $4.00 a gallon. Good chance it goes up this winter.
So electricity at .12 would be less expensive. Less service on an electric boiler also. And it could be running less that 78% efficient if it is over-sized and short cycles, most older boilers are oversized

Factor in what you actual electric costs are if you feed in or get credits on your account.

If you have an inverter on your PV, it probably tracks usage, savings, etc.

hot_rod

An upcoming Coffee with Caleffi will be on dual fueled systems. Adding an air to water heat pump, leave an existing fossil boiler for peak demand or design days. Which tends to be less that 10% of the year in many heating climates.

As much as some folks like to rant about electrification and losing fossil fuels, at least 25 states have passed laws preventing the "banning" of fossil fuels. So the combi or hybrid system make sense.
Use a heat pump with a 3 COP, when it drops to 1 COP, switch to the oil fired.

Then see how the electric as a heating source pencils out.

These two issues can help you do some number crunching.

Hot_water_fan

I’d really support a heat loss first. Smaller would be better AMP wise, and I’d think about the dual fuel option. Using 95% less oil is still good! If you’re using electric resistance for hot water, I’d switch that to electric boiler plus indirect to save some panel space too. 

Jamie Hall

Well... we all know (do we?) that electric everything is going to be the wave of the future -- or the law, like it or not. However, unfortunately someone forgot to figure out how to modify the physics. And folks, a 100 amp service just plain isn't going to do the job. So in addition to the boiler, you have to add in the cost of upgrading the service and switchboard -- which, as they say in my rural area, isn't chicken feed.

Hot_water_fan

@Jamie Hall it sounds like this house is already a dual fuel system (well tri with propane). So the discussion is ditch oil entirely (I think that’s probably unnecessary and would push upgrading electric service) or keep it as a backup. If the oil stays, adding a smaller electric boiler with indirect swapping out for the existing water heater might not require any upgrade whatsoever. I think we start with the heat loss first then advise. 

hot_rod

A 5 ton inverter air to water could probably run on a 50 or 60A circuit. Oil or LP boiler for second stage and redundancy.

Maybe you only need 3 or 4 ton? A load calc would be a good first step.

EBEBRATT-Ed

If you look up the spec sheet online it is a 12,000watt electric element. 12000/240=50 amps which again agrees with the spec sheet.

But like @Jamie Hall pointed out there asking for 2 45 amp breakers.

That makes no sense to me.

It is a modulating boiler so maybe that has something to do with it. It may have two elements at 6kw each and maybe they are pulsing one on and off but even that make no sense with the breaker size.


But in any event with an electric dryer (around 25 amps) and water heater (around 20 amps) your not going to make it work with a 100 amp service

hhh2712787

Thanks everyone for your advice I decided to keep the oil boiler baseboards come on about 1 hour each day I will be adding another mini split to increase heat and cooling overall. Changing to electric boiler spoke with and electrician and my solar panel guys. Electrician said would need service upgrade and solar panel advisor said I should expect a electric bill during winter. So for me to remove oil boiler need to upgrade service buy and install electric boiler and then add more solar panels to produce more power just to use the boiler couple days a week not worth it will be investing to see if I can better insulate my house.