Good afternoon. It has been almost 4 years since having a WF Envision installed and I would like to have an ‘expert’ other than the original installer look at the setup to see if it is running optimally. Do any of the professionals at this forum know of any contractors I might contact? Thank you in advance.

I would search for dealers in your area at the Waterfurnace website. They have recently implemented a rating system 1-5 in several categories. Customer Satisfaction rating is NA until they get enough responses to make the rating valid. It is acceptable to ask for references.

Any particular concerns we might help with. I'll be in Cinci area the 28th

Thank you. Of the five dealers listed for the 45402 zip code, the dealer that installed ours is the only one that has a rating. (It has a 4 out of 5 star rating). I don’t' have a particular concern except to want to know if the setup is the most effective.

Here is a little background. Our system does not have a buffer tank for the DSH. When the DSH is off, the water temperature from the faucet is significantly higher than when it is on. This to me seems to defy logic and would also suggest that the setup isn’t optimal. I believe I asked the dealer about this and they really didn’t help much. Several years ago I asked on this forum about this and got several different answers, one of which was I might consider turning off the DSH. And so I did and never turned it back on. Here is the link for the thread back then.
http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Forums/tabid/53/aff/13/aft/79882/afv/topic/afpg/1/Default.aspx
(One correction however: the water heater is not a MR50245, but is instead a MR85245.)

In any event, I really don’t know if I can trust the opinion of the dealer that installed the unit because on occasions prior to that I seemed to get the pat answer “don't worry its working fine."

The advertisements for this dealer suggested one could experience 30~70% savings. My anecdotal experience is that it has been at most 30%. That is certainly better than the oil system we had before, but I want to know if I can do better. I read this forum with amazement sometimes seeing how many variables there are for a properly operating geothermal system. It is enough to make my head spin.

For reasons I can't explain WF and many other manufacturers still claim you can install a DSH without a buffer tank. While you certainly can, those who monitor their equipment learn very quickly that it is not just far from optimal, in fact the heat energy could be extracted from the water heater instead of added to it. I learned this when a clients hot water bill (independently metered) went up with the addition of a dsh.
If your installer isn't savvy to this, then yes I would suspect they are not super progressive in design. Disconnecting your DSH will likely improve system performance.

Posted By joe.ami on 18 Aug 2014 10:29 AM
... WF and many other manufacturers ... claim you can install a DSH without a buffer tank. While you certainly can, those who monitor their equipment learn very quickly that it is not just far from optimal, in fact the heat energy could be extracted from the water heater instead of added to it. I learned this when a clients hot water bill (independently metered) went up with the addition of a dsh. ... Disconnecting your DSH will likely improve system performance.

I'm one of those who monitor my equipment (see http://www.welserver.com/WEL0043/ ).

I'm also one of those who has a DSH connected without a buffer tank.

And I'm one of those who has shown that indeed heat energy gets extracted from the water heater and put in to the refrigerant line.

I've had my DSH turned off for 5 years now.  No point in turning it on without a buffer tank, and, figuring out how to do this without putting it in the attic is difficult for me.

Unless you're one of the few minority where a non-buffer-tank DSH actually works, you'd be more efficient leaving the DSH turned off.

In my WF unit, to ensure the DSH pump isn't run dry, I removed the pump's in line fuse, labeled what it's for, and placed it in the bottom of the tray.

Best regards,

Bill