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Even Cheaper(to the point of hillarity)

Mason
Mason Member Posts: 102
in THE MAIN WALL
HR, you are right in saying that they can and will work in certain app's. You also mentioned that the final call is from the AHJ, unfortunately for this HO, it won't fly here. This is the residence mentioned in the similarly titled thread where the radiant loss alone exceeds 55K. Tubing is 1/2" on 18" centers etc etc. that is a geothermal heat pump to the left capable of only 51K with a 32`EWT, which on a closed loop system will be far less than that. I was called in on this job by the AHJ because the original contractor couldn't/wouldn't make it work. It has been red-tagged(for good cause), and at this point I believe litigation will follow.

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Comments

  • Mason
    Mason Member Posts: 102
    wonder what the inspector is going to say..........

    Well, here we are again on this "cheaped out" system. Did I mention that this contractor is the one that sued me in 2000 over his no compete clause....

    Here we have a beautiful display of what you get when you install something that won't work and then are willing to try anything to get it to do something it is not capable of....

    Last I knew this was an incorrect use of a water heater....



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  • billygoat22
    billygoat22 Member Posts: 124


    For all that trouble wouldn't elec basebd be cheaper? Elec water heater won't run much cheaper.

    At least they didn't run a water hose off it an coil it under the carpet!
  • Constantin
    Constantin Member Posts: 3,796
    ... so what was this system supposed to do?

    Please excuse my ignorant question, as I cannot see the rest of the system...

    From the little I can tell, a lot is being asked from the electric water heater... a fan coil to the left? A floor manifold to the floor? Two mystery circuits disappearing into the ceiling beyond...

    Is this the super-insulated house to end all super-insulated homes or a grossly undersized job? From the caption, I gather its probably the latter... Have fun fixing it! :-P In the meantime, I look forward to the "after" pictures. Cheers!
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    The issue with WHs

    is not a matter of will it work, because quite often they can and do. Two 6kw elements in that would give you a 40,8000 BTU/ hr output.

    The issue is code compliance. Most are not listed for use as closed loop (only) heating appliances. However the local AHJ makes that call!

    I believe WH manufactures realize that these heaters get installed as stand alone hydronic heating sources a lot. Plenty of online radiant companies show this application.

    Now, some brands, including the one we are looking at, have labels stating they are approved for use in hydronic space heating applications. HOWEVER this requires the be used in an open combined DHW? heating system, as that is how they are listed. This (combined systems) is, in my opinion, not a good application, due to potential bacteria issues.

    Your post does not show the complete installation or tell us the heat load of the system it is connected to. It may work just fine, but it probably is not a code compliant installation according to the intent, and wording, of most, if not all, plumbing and mechanical codes used.

    Then again most instantanous and a lot of the smaller condensing heaters on the market do not have ASME listings either :) They are used for closed loop heating applications all the time.

    hot rod

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