Building a new home and putting radiant heat in the lower level and through some places in the home. However, we will also have gas forced air and a/c. My question is: the plumber has quoted me 3500-4000 for the boiler (seems high to me) but I was wondering about simply using a water heater instead (much less costly even with potential replacement 10years later). Thanks for the replies!
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I had a friend use a water heater for about three winters. He tore it out and put in a boiler because the water heater could not keep the floor warm. We have about 4 months of winter here though .
I was a Boiler technician in the Navy,where they taught us "to a large degree,it is true that the larger the machine the more efficient it can be made" consider a boiler an investment in efficiency and the long life issue, new burners may be developed later,and you can exchange old parts on a boiler...
Scribe once, cut once!
why are you putting two heat sources in the home ? why put in a gas fired furnace and a gas fired boiler or hot water heater when you could just put in the gas fired boiler and put a hydronic coil in the air handler ? you could use the boiler to heat your residential hot water if you wanted, as well.
carpenter in transition
No idea? More information please! I am the homeowner and may not be relaying the actual "needs" to you. I think we need gas forced air furnace and ducting for a/c purposes also. Any and all suggestions helpfull.
Thank you!
Bob
first of all, the boiler price you got is in the right ballpark.
if you are going to heat your house with forced air, then you need an air handler (fan, motor, etc.) and ductwork to do this.
if you want air conditioning, then a chiller coil will go in the air handler to chill the air along with an outdoor condensor.
heating the air moved by the air handler can be done with a gas furnace (attached to the air handler) which warms the heat exchanger (think of blowing air across a hot metal plate).
heating the air can also be done with hot water from a boiler. the water is piped to a hydronic coil ( think of blowing air across your car radiator) which is installed in the air handler.
if you choose to install a boiler (which you should) you should consider using the second option. it allows you to put the air handler(s) anywhere in the home. it also reduces the cost of the air handler with coil vs. gas furnace. more importantly, it is a less complex piece of equipment and one less combustion source and one less chimney.
you can talk to your plumber about the economics of heating your domestic hot water with the boiler. the value of this is determined by a number of factors including your climate and your hot water usage. the up front cost is usually more if you do it with a separate zone and circulator pump, but depending on your usage, it could save you money in the long run
carpenter in transition
My original house has gas fired forced air has a rental gas fired domestic water heater. I've doubled with the house with an addition. The addition has hydronic running off a second water heater and forced air. I hooked up that water heater to a wood stove as well. I extended it into the addition for heat and air conditioning. So half my house has hydronic and forced air.
Every thing I have read says that the fewer heat sources you operate the the more efficient the operation is and that over the long term a boiler is cheaper to own/operate than a water heater. As someone said you can use the boiler for hydronic heating and for domestic hot water and even as a heat source to the forced air system.
My next step will be to scrap the two water heaters, one electric and one gas, and replace them with one boiler to provide both hydronic heating and domestic hot water (using a heat exchanger.
I have not done it yet simply for cash flow reasons. For a few hundred dollars I bought a water heater and hooked it into the hydronic system and in combination with the wood stove heated the addition. That gave me heat to work on the interior of the addition in the winter months.
I calculated that I spent about 3-400$ CND more on fuel using the two water heaters than if I had installed the 4,000$ on a boiler.
The only advantage to using a water heater for hydronic is lower up front costs and having a bit more system security, what's the probability of having two heat sources fail at the same time?