I have my pellet stove now need something to heat the water! Hot water is killing me here!

[Steveo]

Has anyone tried one of these electric water heaters:

http://www.marathonheaters.com/

When my current 14 yr. old snuffy smith dies I might buy the Marathon.

I have not tried one but I heard they are one of the best with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Redox]

I agree - should use the emergency switch only after the boiler has turned itself off. I believe when the temp sensor says - enough heat, turn furnace off - it doesn't just cut the power to the whole unit, it tells the furnace to stop burning, BUT allows it to finish it's cycle, which includes the blowers and purging thing. If you use the emergency switch and just cut the power to the whole thing mid cycle, your leaving unburnt oil and stuff in the burner which the burner will have to deal with next time it's turned on.

I have come to use the emergency switch and am saving about 30-40% on my summer month oil useage for DHW - but I am careful to be sure to turn it off between cycles.

when temp in boiler reaches setpoint, the spraygun/burner shuts off as the relay in boiler clicks & is exactly the same as the emergency switch disconnecting= no excess oil. a purge is a hot boileer dumping the heat to a water tank, for efficiency, so that hot boiler doesnt lose as much heat up the chimney after shutoff.

Some oil burners use a post purge cycle that keeps the fans running for a minute to cool things off and keep the nozzle from coking up. I suspect that most boilers with a tankless coil don't have this feature and it shouldn't be a problem. If you want to check, watch the burner through a normal cycle and see if the flame goes out as soon as the motor stops. If you have a draft fan or sidewall kit, you probably want to let it finish its cycle. Putting a switch in series with the aquastat to shut it down would be a better idea.

Chris

 

[MikePelletier]

I got rid of my super store that ran off my oil boiler and went with a Rinnai R75. I installed it myself and
the only problem I ran into turned out to be due to a clogged mixing valve. It's been absolutely awesome.

 

[Catfishjack]

I use a Kerosene fired Toyotomi and I have for over 10 years. It is hot water on demand, 5 gallon holding tank, direct vent /no chimney. For a family of 4, even our outside faucets have a hot water blend, I estimate I use about 100 gallons of kerosene a year and electricity usage is so minimal I don't even calculate it into the cost of hot water...

 

[MikePelletier]

Hi Jack.

If it's "on demand", what's the holding tank for? Is it hot water storage or
just to let the cold water warm up to room temp? It sounds pretty decent.

Mike

 

[Catfishjack]

it always keeps 5 gallon of water "hot" for instant use. We cannot outrun this unit.

 

[MikePelletier]

That's really interesting. I'm not really equipped for Kerosene, but
it sounds like it would be efficient. The Rinnai is also direct vent. I
like that it's really quiet. I thought about going with the DHW insert
coil on the PB105 pellet boiler but I'd have to keep it on all summer.

Mike

 

[M1sterM]

I got rid of my super store that ran off my oil boiler and went with a Rinnai R75. I installed it myself and
the only problem I ran into turned out to be due to a clogged mixing valve. It's been absolutely awesome.

I have a Rinnai...I think it's an R73 or something like that. I agree, it's awesome. I've never regretted the investment, and our electric bill has gone down over $30-40 a month. It's propane, and we're using about 8-10 gallons a month for hot water, but I have 2 kids in cloth diapers (one almost 2, and the other 1 month old), so we're doing tons of laundry.

 

[MikePelletier]

When I ran into the problem with the mixing valve, I found a website that had a slew of suggestions
and troubleshooting techniques. From what I could see, the biggest problem people had with it was
the requirement that the flow is at least .5 GPM to stay running. That's not so cool for water saving
washers, but I don't think hot water is essential for cleaning clothes these days.

 

[Smudge88]

I use a Kerosene fired Toyotomi and I have for over 10 years. It is hot water on demand, 5 gallon holding tank, direct vent /no chimney. For a family of 4, even our outside faucets have a hot water blend, I estimate I use about 100 gallons of kerosene a year and electricity usage is so minimal I don’t even calculate it into the cost of hot water…

What did this cost you...I can do the install myself...Interesting!

 

[peirhead]

This summer i put in a solar water pre-heater (basically garden hose on the roof) which brought the city water from 50 deg to around 80 deg, then through the coil on my oil boiler. After this winter (hopefully with a new Quad Castile) I hope to take the coil out of the furnace and install one of the GE 12 yr electric DHW heaters. I plan to leave the oil boiler on but turned down to around 90 - 100 deg instead of 140-160... That way i'll use very little oil but still keep it from condensing water on the cold jacket.

 

[mtalea]

I installed my Harman P68 to heat the house and hopefully I will not use any oil for heat this year. I have been keeping track of how much oil I am using to heat my hot water and figured out that I use 5 gallons of oil every six days just to heat my hot water. If oil was $4.00 a gallon it is costing me about $1216.60 per year just to heat my hot water. Holy crap thats alot of money just for hot water. It is obviously costing me more since oil is more than $4.00 per gallon. So what is everyone else doing for hot water? Natural gas is not an option here in Maine for me. I thought about the Rinnai but have not read anything good about them. Maybe I should have got a pellet fired boiler. I am really considering installing the most highest efficient electric water heater I can find. Solar water is way to expensive at this point in time. I do not have a chimney so a propane water heater will need to be direct vented and they are big bucks I think. Any ideas on what I can do for hot water?

I installed an electric energy smart hot water heater.Its made by whirlpool @lowes..my electic bill went up about 20-25 dollars a month,I keep the temperture on it down so no one can take a real hot shower...set at about 110 degrees,and no one complains about it and it never runs out of hot water..there are 5 of us in this house....good luck

 

[mtalea]

I installed my Harman P68 to heat the house and hopefully I will not use any oil for heat this year. I have been keeping track of how much oil I am using to heat my hot water and figured out that I use 5 gallons of oil every six days just to heat my hot water. If oil was $4.00 a gallon it is costing me about $1216.60 per year just to heat my hot water. Holy crap thats alot of money just for hot water. It is obviously costing me more since oil is more than $4.00 per gallon. So what is everyone else doing for hot water? Natural gas is not an option here in Maine for me. I thought about the Rinnai but have not read anything good about them. Maybe I should have got a pellet fired boiler. I am really considering installing the most highest efficient electric water heater I can find. Solar water is way to expensive at this point in time. I do not have a chimney so a propane water heater will need to be direct vented and they are big bucks I think. Any ideas on what I can do for hot water?

I installed an electric energy smart hot water heater.Its made by whirlpool @lowes..my electric bill went up about 20-25 dollars a month,I keep the temperature on it down so no one can take a real hot shower...set at about 110 degrees,and no one complains about it and it never runs out of hot water..there are 5 of us in this house....good luck

 

[control1]

I HAD THE SAME ISSUE I WAS BURNING A GALLON A DAY JUST FOR HOT WATER I HAD A PLUMBER COME IN AND HE PUT IN A 40 GALLON ELECTRIC WATER HEATER NOW I CAN HEAT WITH ELEC OR OIL BY TURNING A VALVE I CHOSE TO HEAT THE WATER WITH ELEC . MY BILL WENT FROM APPROX 130 TO 179 PER MONTH STILL CHEAPER THAN HEATING WITH OIL. I DID NOT GO WITH THE ON DEMAND HEATER AS I HAVE HEARD A LOT OF ISSUES WITH THEM.

 

[alexdrozd]

The problem I have heard with "On Demand" Heaters is this. They all use a small diameter coil in order to heat the water that passes thru it. This small diameter coil starts to plug up over time and you get a reduced flow and eventually, no flow, depending on your water conditions. You either have to give it an acid bath to open it up again, if that is still legal, or replace the coil entirely. Any truth to this?

 

[MCPO]

My inquiries into the on demand electric heaters exposed the reality that I can expect to replace it every 6-8 yrs . This conclusion was drawn from a few different plumbers who were more familiar with them.
No thanks!