indirect-fired water heater

Mark_5

Do you have city water , or a private well? If you have city water , & you use a conventional water heater , you will always have hot water if there is a power outage. Some indirect heaters offer a lifetime warranty on tank leakage, as compared to most water heaters with an average of 6 years.

jon

indirect-fired water heater

Are there enough advantages to warrant having an indirect-fired "tank in tank" water heater installed versus a "normal" direct water heater?

My current heater is 11 years old and appears in good shape but we are doing some plumbing repairs/upgrades and so we are strongly considering an indirect "tank in tank". I know the benefits in terms of the warranty, but is the indirect... worth 3X the cost of a direct water heater as far as comfort, efficiency, etc? We are looking at (ALL IN LABOR AND PARTS) ballpark $500-600 for a direct water heater and $1500-1800 for an indirect "tank in tank".

c-rex

In direct water heating

Dude!
I've always looked at he fuel cost and eff. of the generator before recomending an ID htr.
I do lots of replacment boiler work and have maintained that 82% eff. water htrs. were expesive and redundant.
Properly piped, you'll have a very prompt, almost inexhaustable supply of domestic hot water, and fire a single applaince. You must, however, faithfully maintain
some type of water treatment system, in my teritory a water softener, to insure max performance and service.
A local heating professional can help. cp

jon

Dude!!!

chuck......could you please say it again? you do or don't like ID htrs, and if not, then what?

c-rex

I adore

ID heaters. Again, there are a number of relitive issues that a local pro can help you with. Good luck.

hot_rod

On the plus side

of indirects, they are well insulated so heat loss is very low when compared to a tank with a flue through the middle! You can get a lot of hot water using the boilers output to your advantage. Generally a HW tank is in the 40-50,000 btu input range.

I like the fact that it exercises the boiler year round, keeps the boiler from standing around in a cold damp basement all summer. If your current boiler is 85% efficient or better that is generally better than a tank type water heater.

The only decesion then is the price. Obviously a bit higher than a throw away HW tank.

hot rod

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John Penwarden_2

Love my crown Indirect water heater

Replaced the old oi-fired unit years ago. Now I have hot water all the time, the boiler runs all year long (does not sit as previously noted in another post), and I only have one burner to worry about.

As for installation, etc. I went to a supply house, bought mine (50 gal, $500.) I wanted the smaller 30 or 35 gallon, but they did not stock them and the MFG had a higher list price, so I went bigger (good thing with a teenage daughter). I am not a contractor (engineer), but did the installation myself in about 4 hours (I'm not fast at wiring or soldering). Have never had a problem and the boiler is actually running smoother the last couple of years since the DHW installation. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

FYI, my heater is the SS tank and coil type.