multiple water heaters

bob young

I appreciate your imput Larry. it makes sense to me

bob young

multiple water heaters

any one got a piping diagram handy for a battery of three gas fired water heaters.

Paul Rohrs_5

Take your pick

Reverse return or parallel manifold. Parallel manifold would be my preference to ensure equal flow/draw from each heater.

AO Smith's website at hotwater.com shows this attached pdf with parallel manifold.

Regards,

PR

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bob young

hot water

thanks Paul. i had the smith diagram just always looking for a better way !

Larry Weingarten

If you don't need...

...a lot of flow, plumbing them in series would give you more hot water and allow you to use different heaters instead of three the same.

Yours, Larry

Paul Rohrs_5

Larry

I was taught that piping water heaters in series is a big no-no. Water heater number 1 will be pulling triple duty in that it will be preheating water for heaters #2 and #3. Heater number 2 will be preheating water for heater #3 and generally speaking, will "wear" the heaters unevenly. Piping boilers is series makes boilers 2 and 3 heat emitters if they arent actually needed.

There are a few instances where series piping can be effective, but I usually find parallel has more advantages as it pertains to head-loss, flow, and wear. I would agree that piping a water heater in series to preheat from solar or geothermal has merit.

Regards,

PR

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Larry Weingarten

Let me explain...

...my reasons. With heaters in parallel, the most hot water you'll get is about 75% of total volume before the hot starts to cool at the tap. Piped in series, you get 75% of the first heater and 100% of the downstream heater/s. Depending on the hot water needs, one can set the upstream to a lower temperature to help shift some of the load to the downstream one/s. Connections often rust internally over time and this will unbalance heaters piped in parallel. I've seen it many times that one tank has much more flow through it than another, even though they were originally piped in parallel correctly. Different heaters may be used to get the right combination of storage and BTU requirements... they needn't be identical units. Lastly, it's a simple thing to plumb them with three valves to allow for easy bypassing to service or replace.

The one big no-no with series piping is to ask for more flow than will happen. So, I may be crazy, but those is my reasons ;~)

Yours, Larry

Darin Cook_2

Funny

I always get a kick out of the equipment wearing out evenly scenario. It seems like the most expensive option to replace everything at once. Providing it did of course all fail at the same time. Once again, try to think outside the box. Thanks Larry!

Darin

Kevin Bouwman

"equipment wearing out evenly"

Reminds me of a question one of my employees oftens asks me..."Why should I want that?"

Kevin