Poor mans boilermate???

John Lenhart

I was wondering if anyone has used an electric water heater to convert it to an indirect water heater? I've seen it done and it's considerably cheaper than the store bought units.

Ken_10

I have done it many times and you are correct, it is less expensive than an indirect. If the coil in the boiler is still capable of giving 3 gpm, all you need is a bronze or mag drive pump and a check valve and some fittings. It works best if you pull the dip tube out and shorten it so it only goes half way down the tank. Remove the drain valve and put in a tee so that you can feed cold water to one side of the tee and put the drain valve in the other side. The rest is pretty much up to you.

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Al Letellier

indirect water heaters

We done what you're asking many times, but don't make the mistake of comparing a storage tank heated by a tankless to an indirect. Huge difference!!!!!!!!!
The amount of hot water produced is less with using a tankless/storage tank set-up, the boiler still needs that triple aquastat and stays hot all day, and the tank isn't insulated anywhere near as well, so stand-by losses are greater. You're simply trading efficiency and cost of operations for doing it cheaper.
Look around and check for an indirect. A local supplier here just sold 3 30gal units for $150.00 because of dents and scratches, or damaged boxes in shipment.
If there's a will, there's a way!!

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heatboy

I agree with Ken.

It certainly is cheaper to add a storage tank to you tankless coil and using this set-up will help with some of the issues associated with tankless coils. It will also cover-up some service issues that would present themselves earlier, such as limed up coil or heat exchanger. Water softeners are helpful in areas with hard water.

Your boiler will still need to maintain high temperatures if you want decent recovery, so don't be looking for any fuel savings there. It could end up using more fuel since you have to keep the tank warm. You will need 150MBH if you want to get that 3 GPM of hot water for recovery. Adding a mixing valve (not one of those ridiculous tempering valves) to the tank would also help with temperature fluctuations.

Above all else, remember, you get what you pay for. Don't expect the performance of an indirect water heater without buying an indirect water heater.

hb

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Rocky

Used electric 50 gallon tank hundreds of times

I have used the above mentioned 50 gallon electric water heater as a storage unit for the tankless coil. Use a bronze taco 006 circ pump to recirc cold h2o from tank through coil. Use a tekmar 260 to turn on circ pump, provide domestic hot water priority and wwsd so boiler doesn't have to stay hot all summer long. Actually works really well.
Rocky