Suggestions for Hot Water?

[jcleary47]

It's tough for me to estimate how much I typically use as this is the first winter I've had my pellet stove so I'm not sure yet but I can say that in the past, we typically filled up with oil in the spring so we have oil through summer and then top it off in the fall before winter and sometimes have to fill up again before winter is over.

I filled my tank at the end of September this year, and I'm currently at 3/4 of a tank remaining having had just the pellet stove heating all of my house except for the room above my garage which is set to 45 degrees.

 

[maple1]

I'm sticking with what I said in post 8.

You might want to see how things go through this winter, since it's your first on pellets, but as someone else menioned, you likely burn 150 gallons of oil just to keep your boiler hot all summer. My oil consumption with my coil-in-boiler was around 180 gallons a year for 17 years, and I'd say 95% of that was for hot water when I wasn't heating - the oil rarely cut in during the heating season when burning wood.

 

[Redbarn]

We used to use an 80 gallon oil water heater for summer hot water. Used 1 gall per day, easily $100+/month.
Switched to a Geyser heat pump water heater, using the same oil heater tank but with oil burner turned off.
Have used $15/month max in electricity since the switch.

We have a large, in-ground basement that allows year round HPWH use.
The HPWH run time increases circa 50% in the winter but hot water quantity does not vary much.

 

[jdp1152]

So having put in a pellet stove in my house, I have just about near ended my need to use the furnace and subsequently oil for heating my house other than a single bedroom above the garage.

My hot water is also heated by the furnace via oil burner, and now that I am not using oil to heat my house, it pains me to see the oil guage go down from using hot water so I'm considering other options.

I have developed a moderate interest in the GE GeoSpring Hybrid water heater, but wasn't sure if the cost of running that would be lower than the cost of using oil to heat my hot water. I guess it would certainly be more efficient in the summer, but less so in the winter (I live in Maine).

I don't know if it's an accurate assumption or not, but I would think in the future the cost of oil is more likely to increase than the cost of electricity, so limiting my oil requirement in my home further seems like a no brainer.

Anyone have any experience with hot water heaters like this?

I'm in the process of converting from oil to Geothermal heating/cooling and ordered this hot water heater to replace the oil/solar one. I plan on installing it in Jan when the oil furnace is decommissioned. You should talk with your home insurance company as well, Removing combustion systems from your house can also reduce your insurance premiums adding to your savings.

The price and reviews were why I went with this one.

 

[woodgeek]

That's a good tip....I should call my insurance co. I still think for a larger family (we are 4) a 80 gallon HPWH is a better deal the the GE (if you have the room). And if it runs less in conventional mode, more eff than a smaller unit.