Boilers Vs. Hot Water Heater

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Mar. 14, 2015 11:41 pm

grumpy wrote:When I put my basement in I put Pex in the floor and will heat using my hot water heater. That got me thinking what is the difference..
I know you can do that with a hot water heater but typically for radiant heating they recommend lower temperature and it's much slower process. It's like a train though, slow to start but it doesn't lose momentum easily. You have lot of thermal mass banking heat. If you tried to do it with baseboard it's not going to happen unless the room was really small becsue it wouldn't be able to produce enough heat on demand.

In a nut shell the difference is the hot water heater typically heats to a lower temperature, around 140 and of course has much smaller capacity so it's going to run a lot. 140 is usually the minimum you might set a boiler on in the summer. The boiler operating temperature in the winter is typically set for a high of 180 and a lo of 160. You can take it to 190 if you need too. The actual temperature can creep up around 200 depending on the circumstances. It doesn't actually boil.

 
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Post by lsayre » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 7:04 am

If its an electric HWT it is only going to provide you with 15,350 BTUH (4,500 Watt elements) to at most 18,770 BTUH (5,500 Watt elements). Will that paltry output be sufficient for heating you homes water and providing your zoned heat?

 
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Post by waldo lemieux » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 9:38 am

lsayre wrote:If its an electric HWT it is only going to provide you with 15,350 BTUH (4,500 Watt elements) to at most 18,770 BTUH (5,500 Watt elements). Will that paltry output be sufficient for heating you homes water and providing your zoned heat?
Ill answer that , NO I wouldnt want to be in the shower when that thing called for heat :shock:

you can pick up used water heaters for cheap or even free , why not use a dedicated unit for your heat?

waldo

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 12:53 pm

Watts is watts...not any real need for much tank/storage capacity to heat a concrete slab.

Keep an eye out for a used/cast away electric boiler for cheap...Craig's List, etc. :idea:


 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 1:04 pm

lsayre wrote:If its an electric HWT it is only going to provide you with 15,350 BTUH (4,500 Watt elements) to at most 18,770 BTUH (5,500 Watt elements). Will that paltry output be sufficient for heating you homes water and providing your zoned heat?
Most electric space heaters are only 5000 BTU so at least its worth 3 of those. I'd be willing to say yes, it will work for his application.

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 1:08 pm

Lightning wrote:
lsayre wrote:If its an electric HWT it is only going to provide you with 15,350 BTUH (4,500 Watt elements) to at most 18,770 BTUH (5,500 Watt elements). Will that paltry output be sufficient for heating you homes water and providing your zoned heat?
Most electric space heaters are only 5000 BTU so at least its worth 3 of those. I'd be willing to say yes, it will work for his application.
In heating such a high mass such as concrete, it will be a number of days before ever gaining the benefit of those 15,350 Btu/Hr radiating into the space...so start that pump around ~August. ;)

 
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Post by grumpy » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 5:41 pm

lsayre wrote:If its an electric HWT it is only going to provide you with 15,350 BTUH (4,500 Watt elements) to at most 18,770 BTUH (5,500 Watt elements). Will that paltry output be sufficient for heating you homes water and providing your zoned heat?
No it's gas at 40K BTU .. for about 900 SF. I'll give it a try, IIRC when I looked into it I needed 20K BTU to heat the space.. If It does not work well I'll do something else..

Thanks for all the reply's..

 
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Post by waldo lemieux » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 6:35 pm

my guess is that it will do one task or the other quite nicely, not both.... but there is no end to my wrongness :D


 
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Post by grumpy » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 7:06 pm


 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 9:04 pm

You will be fine.

Start it up way early and shut it down way early...or the lag of radiation swing will get you. :idea:

 
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Post by grumpy » Sun. Mar. 15, 2015 9:13 pm

McGiever wrote:You will be fine.

Start it up way early and shut it down way early...or the lag of radiation swing will get you. :idea:
Thanks MG, you all had me rethink this, I only need to raise the temp a few degrees, I figure if I keep the floor at 80* I'll be happy. I don't even know if I will hook it up. So Far without heat it's staying around 60* and thats good for me.. I will leave it that way unless I find myself spending more time down there..

 
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Post by waldo lemieux » Mon. Mar. 16, 2015 7:53 am

Grumpy

Thanx for the link, I guess Ive always been one of those "boiler" guys. I just finished a duplex and was going to try waterheaters but chickened out. I guess maybe I should have forged ahead..... next time :idea:

 
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Post by NoSmoke » Sat. Mar. 28, 2015 6:17 pm

I asked about this too when my BIL installed my boiler and I wanted to buy a $500 Hot Water Heater instead of a $1800 Boiler. He explained it to me twice, but when he was done, we installed the boiler engineered and designed for the radiant floor application. I am certainly glad I did; as with most things in life; you can pay up front, or pay dearly in the long run.

Find a used boiler if you can. They are out there.

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