Boiler or Water Heater > GreenBuildingTalk - Green Building Forums on Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power

Forums

Members

You are not authorized to post a reply.

Author

Messages

Unregistered User is Offline

Registered Users

Posts:2321

01/11/2006 10:18 AM
I am installing radiant heating throughout my new construction home. It is a 3000 sq ft home including the basement which is also being heated. Basement is inslab and main floor is in the floor joists. I am trying to decide between putting a Boiler in or just having a large oil fired water heater. It seems ot me that the water heater would be more efficient. What are poeple's thoughts experience with this?

onlyinamerica User is Offline

Registered Users

Posts:16

01/16/2006 12:52 PM
Hi guest, I am in the midst of building my own 3400 sq ft house all heated by radiant beneath the floor (between the joists). In addition I have radiant in my porch, basement and garage concrete. I am choosing a boiler for many reasons. My heat loss calcs indicate around 156k BTU and that doesn't include the domestic hot water. I have a custom shower that will have multiple shower heads and body sprays. This consumes a lot of water. I am choosing a boiler with a hot water holding tank that will be heated by the boiler. Efficiency is the name of the game and with the rising costs of fuel you can't ignore it. My system will be closed loop for the radiant and will have about 6 zones. I need a large storage for my domestic so I don't run out in a long shower. If I placed my entire house on a hot water tank I would run out of hot water very quickly if I had heating demand at around the same time I was taking a shower. There are some large hot water heaters out there but I believe you will end up paying more for it than a boiler and may have more problems over the long haul. Boilers are simple and with the gained efficiency of a boiler with a holding tank, you can't go wrong. Initial cost and flexibility as well. You will also need another tank for your domestic if you have a closed loop system. There's a few points.

Unregistered User is Offline

Registered Users

Posts:2321

01/24/2006 9:09 PM
quote: Originally posted by spomamewor I am installing radiant heating throughout my new construction home. It is a 3000 sq ft home including the basement which is also being heated. Basement is inslab and main floor is in the floor joists. I am trying to decide between putting a Boiler in or just having a large oil fired water heater. It seems ot me that the water heater would be more efficient. What are poeple's thoughts experience with this? I am reviewing somewhat the same dilema . I installed a water heater as a cheaper option but I know the efficiency is low . I am not sure the average annual effy's are calculated the same on boilers & water heaters? I have heard that if the radiant floor water return temperature is high that the water heater can suffer as it is too hot in the area where the first flame heat hits. I would go the boiler route again if I had the chance -- for the improved effy although I am on my third winter on a water heater used with relatively low temperature water

You are not authorized to post a reply.