Hydronic baseboard heat

Jim_27

Looking for Pros and Cons On using a wall mounted Tankless waterheater for baseboard heat. Like a Rinnai or a Bosch.
Need something that is space saving, looked at heatmaker but looking for something smaller.All input appreciated.

Thanks
Jim

Michal

I would not

Well I have never used a tankless to do that, but I have used a water heater as a add on to a steam system. I Know it will void the warranty right off the bat, but if your willing t pay for the electric rates then I guess you can use one. I am not familiar with those, but usually they are good for like a 80 degree temperature rise, so I do not know if you would be able to get the water hot enough to get heat, because the element is sized only for that temperature rise at a certain flow rate, so I doubt it would be able to keep up with recovery. You might be better off using a piece of electric baseboard instead or a electric boiler like burnham has

lwal

conventional

One thing to consider: If the unit breaks down, are the parts readilly available on a technicians truck at 3:AM? Whenever a customer come up with an idea, I always ask that question and they tend to go more conventional!

jeff_51

the poblem is

the upper temp limit, You will certainly make plenty of hot water but most will limit out at about 130 deg. There certainly are wall mnount boilers out there that are about the size of your lunchbox so keep looking and there are alot of domestic standard water heaters that are rated for space heating as well, just look on the rating tag regardless of what the rep says. The reason water heaters fail is because 1) you are constanly introducing fresh water and 2) you are raising the water temp 50-60 deg. You do neither of these in space heating. You are not adding fresh water and are of course usually only raising water temps about 20 deg. Don't be afraind to get crative, just make sure it is something a local supply house carries regarding parts, cause as we all know, it won't break unitll fri night 3am on the coldest weekend of the year.

Joe Brix

only a few tankless

makers like Rianni and Takagi approve their units for domestic heating. Again, as said, any tankless HW heater is not designed to put out 180° water and the flow is restrictive. How many BTU's do you need? Is a real wall hung boiler like a Munchkin T50 too small or too expensive?