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I used the wrong term, so I apologize, but my point still stands whether oil or gas for water heating both are non-renewable and require the consumer to be dependent on someone else providing you with the resource for which you will be charged.
Where possible, every home and business should have solar hot water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agw123
On demand and oil is not a valid combination. On demand requires gas.
People lived in these homes for decades before the separate hotwater heater was invented. Coils work fine so long as you realize their limitations. As with anything else, you need what you need and you don't need any more than that. Ask ten contractors whether you need a separate hotwater system and they are going to say yes because that's business to them, they are not there to be your friend, they are there to make MONEY. It's up to you to decide what you need and don't need, never let a salesman tell you what you need. Ask a car salesman what kind of car you need and he's going to try and sell you the most expensive car on the lot when maybe a Hyundai or a Kia would do just fine.
So I called another company that also advised against the mixing valve (due to potential for various parts in the valve to go bad), but recommended the cheaper option of putting in a regular "manual" valve to control the flow of cold water to mix with the hot water in the boiler. I got this valve installed at a fair price and it seems to be working well so far.
On demand and oil is not a valid combination. On demand requires gas.
With the coil it is as long as long as you have sufficient BTU output, the coils have ratings for GPM (gllons per minute) They are only 20 or 30 foot long depending on the GPM(don't quote me on that, it's guesstimate). They have to be on demand, the only real limitation is a real small coil or if you have small BTU output boiler that can't replenish the heat fast enough. I have a coal boiler (320K) and if I recall the coil is 12GPM, hot water is endless.
Coils suck, they do not have the recovery time thats needed when you have more than 1 person living in the house. Period.
Perhaps on oil unit that may be the case but they work excellent on solid fuel boiler since it's on 24/7. In stead of using it directly you can set it up to run into a standard hot water tank using a thermosiphon. You could do this even with a coil that is few feet long. The coil will take most of the heat load for the hot water tank.
Why isn't lowering the temperature on the water heater not an option? I'm genuinely curious - is this a problem with an oil powered water heater?
If you use an electric water heater as a water reservoir (not connected to electricity), a small Taco bronze circulating pump can circulate the water through the boiler and back into the water heater. This setup is widely used in Alaska. The electric water heater (reservoir in this case) thermostat controls the Taco pump, and this thermostat can be set at 120 degrees. The cold water is routed toward the "reservoir" by the drain plug at the bottom of the heater via a 4-way "thingy" that looks like a "T" but has 4 threaded ends: one end connects to the reservoir at the drain, another end is used for the cold water coming into the reservoir, one end goes to the Taco bronze pump, and the last one is used as a drain point.
So when the hot water temperature in reservoir drops below 120 degrees, the thermostat turns the Taco pump ON, this pump moves warm water (below 120 degrees) from the reservoir-as well as the cold water coming into it-through the boiler, and the now hot water from the boiler comes back into the reservoir though the cold-water point on top of it. If you now turn a shower ON, for example, the hot water comes out the reservoir through the hot water port on top of the reservoir. The center port on the reservoir is left alone with the 30 psi pressure valve that comes with the reservoir (or electric water heater) when you buy it at the store.
At my house I insulated this water reservoir, and also the hot water pipes. If the cost of electricity drops below the cost of heating fuel during the summer, then I can isolate the reservoir and connect it to electric power. But so far electricity has been too expensive for me to heat water this way.
If you use an electric water heater as a water reservoir (not connected to electricity), a small Taco bronze circulating pump can circulate the water through the boiler and back into the water heater. This setup is widely used in Alaska..
You probably don't really need the pump if you had temperature activated valve. This is a basic diagram for thermosiphon, the water heater tank has to be close to the boiler and elevated above it. This setup is also commonly used with small stoves, the coil in the stove is only a few feet long and can't do instant heat. As the water heats up in the coil it will naturally flow into the top of the water heater and is replaced by the colder water in the bottom.
how do i turn the temp down on my heater so the water is not so hot out of the faucet
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