Electric hydronic heat12/27/2023 ![]() ![]() Circulating water continuously at a lower temperature may be comfortable and may actually heat the home adequately. We guess that your plumber/designer who loved using an electric water heater for heating the entire home expected that (as is common in Canada) the circulator pump(s) would run continuously during the heating season. you mention, but it's going to have a still shorter life and higher operating cost at that level. Of course, your heater may be capable of reaching the 177 degF. Carson Dunlop Associates' sketch (left) explains recovery rate of water heaters.Īlso, water heaters are not expected to maintain internal water temperature much above 140 degF - domestic hot water over 120 degF is dangerously scalding hot. Watch out: Also, take a look at your water heater's warranty and you may see as we have on review of a number of manufacturers, that using the water heater to heat the home either voids the heater warranty or reduces the warranty period.Įlectric water heaters can be the slowest to recover when cool - so the system may not be very responsive in cold weather unless it is staying on nearly all the time (even more costly). However water heaters can be used for home heating - aka "hydronic applications" or "hydronic heating applications" provided that the specific water heater is rated by the manufacturer as approved for that use and provided that the heater is being used for "small heating loads" of 75,000 BTUh or less. While electric or even some other water heaters are on occasion used for home heating, they are generally not applied where there is a high heating load and a long duty cycle. We cannot imagine a more costly, short-lived heating system than using an electric water heater to heat an entire building, especially in Canada where winters can get pretty cold and a heater has to work hard. Ben V, Canada.Īnswer: Electric Water Heaters Designed for Producing Domestic Hot Water I am unable to find a discussion of this system anywhere on the internet with the use of electricity to heat the water.Īny ideas? Thank you very much. None of the heating contractors I have contacted seem to understand this system and think that this water heater is a boiler and should be run at 180 F and my stats go up to 177 F. I am wondering how to make this system work efficiently. The living-room has a loop with a TRV set at 4 (70 F according to a spare one he left me) AND a stat on the wall that turns on or off a GRUNDFOS UPS 20-42 3-speed circulator pump. When I bought the house he did not give me much information on how to operate it and now he is dead. The installer was a plumber who loved this system and took out an oil-fired hot air furnace to install this system. 4 of them have TRVs and one runs wide open. Each stat is hooked up to a 240 V 20 A breaker/ There are 5 loops. I have read the 39 steps in the operation of a boiler and my problem is this: my "boiler" is a 60 gal hot water storage tank heated by 2 4500-watt elements each controlled by a tank thermostat set at 140 F. I'm looking for information on boilers and hydronic heat. Advice on Using an Electric, Gas or Oil Water Heater for Home Heating Question: How Can I Improve the Efficiency and Reduce the Operating Cost of my Electric Water Heater Used to Heat my Entire Home? We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need. We also warn that using a water heater as the primary heat source for building space heating where heating loads are significant is likely to give a reduced water heater life and may also void the water heater warranty. We describe using a water heater for small heating loads, and we explain the concerns for life expectancy of a water heater and on its warranty when the heater is used for other purposes. This article explains using an electric water heater for heating a building occupied space, connecting an electric water heater to heating baseboards or radiators. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website. InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. ![]()
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