Goodbye Steam, Hello Hot Water

Dave Ewald

I've sold my oil-fired one-pipe steam house and am moving into an oil-fired hot water radiator house. As a parting gesture I finally managed to unscrew the radiator valve in the old kitchen to add a close nipple and a coupling to reinstall the radiator on the new, higher ceramic floor. I'm amazed I didn't break a pipe.

I've just decided to give my copy of "Lost Art of Steam Heating" to the local public library, but what book should I get now?

I also get a heat pump with the new house, and the home inspector told me it would probably be better to use the heat pump until the outside temperature went below 40 degrees - does that sound right to you pros?

The new house does not have a gas connection, and comes with an electric water heater and electric rates of about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour. I think oil is about $2 a gallon now. I'd like to look into heating the water with oil (add coil to boiler or indirect) at least when the current water heater expires.

Dale

About half the cost

Hoping your oil boiler is 80% effecient at your current oil and elect cost 56,000 (80% of 70,000 which is one dollars worth of heat) btu into the house per dollar the cost of heating the water at 13 cents/kwh is about twice as much. So, guess how much of your elect is for domestic water and there's the payback.

John Mills_3

Heat pumps

do well above 40 degrees. Fine to take the chill off the air on a morning where heat isn't needed all day. If you have the old radiators, by the time they start to get any heat in them, the heat pump will have you warmed back up and be off.