Is a LP hot water tank enough to heat my renovated house?
I’m doing a deep energy retrofit on a 2000 sf ranch in Connecticut. I’ve having trouble getting a HVAC company interested. The first wanted to put a hi efficiency air to air heat exchanger in the attic and use the 40 year old ducts. Another said it needs a 4 ton system and he’d only consider it in the attic….on and on…. I finally got a guy who said he’d put in a 2 ton system if that is what I wanted. None of these guys care to do any calculations I guess. My calcs show a 2 ton cooling load and a 54k btu/hr heating load. Can I hook up the hot water tank to a hydro air system and have enough? Has anybody tried this? I’m thinking if I do a hydro system it would give me more flexaility if I want to convert to a pellet boiler or other fuel down the road.
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Pretty easy to figure the heat output of your water heater--and easy to start a debate over whether a water heater is a good space heating appliance--but the harder part is determining distribution losses with the ductwork and determining whether you will keep the house warm. You can get gas water heaters in a very wide range of BTU input, so how big were you thinking? And, how does the water heater address cooling?
A rose is a rose is a.... Same for btus
U r playing w fire. Play away.
We've done this, no problem finding a tank style water heater to get the job done. Problem is the cost of LP gas per BTU.
if you really plan to convert to a wood boiler in the near future you may as well go ahead and use an big electric tank water heater, at least that way you can use it with the power turned off as a buffering tank on the wood boiler once it comes on line.
Thanks Mike. I'm told boilers run at 180 degrees, water tanks can be set at 140. Are there any issues i should be aware of when I run 140 degree water thru a hydro system? Can i run domestic water thru the hydro coil, or do i need a separate tank. I'd really like to hear from someone that has lived for a year or two with this type of system.
I think I answered my own question. Great diagram in the installation manual for this water tank. http://www.americanwaterheater.com/products/productDetails.aspx?ID=1053
Triangle Tube Prestige, I like as of two years ago.
Polaris units near me have constant flame outs with 2 AM customers not happy. Fix and fiddle, fuddle and muddle...
Google, Polaris water heater problems
I got a price on a Navien Combi unit and unfortunately the budget is getting tight at this point. I'm going to go with a LP hot water tank, something like a American PowerFlex Direct Vent. Both my plumber and HVAC guy have not done this before. Can anyone give advise on sizing the tank? 40,000 btu heating load, two baths will have 1.5 gpm shower heads.