XOXO

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Posted by dita531

Ok, so we don't have a water heater, the furnace heats it on they fly.
My Dad says we have 2 options- get an electric water heater tank or get an expansion tank for the furnace.
Pros Cons? Anyone?

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I am in the same exact situation as you are and am also looking for suggestions.

My showers aren't cold... but coming from a co-op in a building... they aren't HOT HOT either.

Since I live in a Levit house... it will be difficult to place a hot water heater tank by the furnace (I have to place it in a closet about 5-10 feet away and run pipes).

I also heard electric hot water heater tanks will run up your electric bill bigtime.


I am having the coil in my boiler replaced... that may make an improvement in the hot water as I don't think the coil was ever replaced.

If that doesn't work... I am going to look at a tankless hot water heater solution.

http://www.tankless-water-heater.com/

Ive done some more research on this as this is one of my tip priorities right now. The tankless water heater probably won't work. My wife read somewhere that you have to feed it cold water for it to work properly.

I have heard from a few people that you should have your boiler coil flushed/cleaned. That will help give you more hot water.

I am most likely going to have the entire coil replaced since I found out from the previous owner's oil company they had some issues with the coil in the past. Its probably going to run me about $600 buks for a new coil installed. If that doesn't help... I got a few quotes for a hot water storage tank ranging from 1100-1500. Might go that route.

Lets see what happens.

Well, I've done some research and figured out what we need to do. We had 3 options:
Solar Hot Water Heater and tank
Electic Water heater in tank
Tank running off of our furnace

Solar is a good investment but I don't think we will be there long enough for us to make the money back. While electric water heaters are inexpensive the operating costs are not.

We had our fuel company come and look and the problem is that we just can generate enough hot water because we don't have a holding tank. We only generate about 3 gallons per minute. We got a quote for about $1500 for a 50 gallon holding tank and installation. With just the 2 of us we could have gone smaller but we have a jacuzzi tub so we went with the bigger.

hot water heater (from friends/family) will cost similar if not less then a furnace (oil)

we just got our first bill from LIPA...and the bill is very respectable consider everything from heat to cooking is electric (including hot water heater)

we only have a small tank (not sure of size)
it can't be big because its in our kitchen in the under the corner peice of our counter and we have not had a problem yet

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Posted by dita531

Well, I've done some research and figured out what we need to do. We had 3 options:
Solar Hot Water Heater and tank
Electic Water heater in tank
Tank running off of our furnace

Solar is a good investment but I don't think we will be there long enough for us to make the money back. While electric water heaters are inexpensive the operating costs are not.

We had our fuel company come and look and the problem is that we just can generate enough hot water because we don't have a holding tank. We only generate about 3 gallons per minute. We got a quote for about $1500 for a 50 gallon holding tank and installation. With just the 2 of us we could have gone smaller but we have a jacuzzi tub so we went with the bigger.

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Dita:

You might want to try to have your boiler coil flushed/shocked/cleaned (whatever you call it).

I have been told the same thing you just said by a few people (plumbers, fuel companies, etc).

While they all said you would do better with a separate tank... or a new coil... a lot of them said you should first try to shock the coil. If the previous owner neglected to do this... you could have a lot of rust buildup on the coil and that will prevent the water from getting hot.

And the funny thing is... the people that were telling me to flush the coil first... are people that were more than willing to sell me a new coil, a new hot water tank, etc. They could have made easy money on me... but they all said first try to flush the coil.

Its going to cost me $79 buks and I am having this done on Friday. If it makes an improvement... i'll let you know and give you the number to the company that did it.

I am hoping this will be an easy fix.


Did you look into Solar? How much does it cost?

Dita:


I had my furnace coil cleaned today... and oh man does it make a world of a difference now.

When he cleaned the coil... you should have seen the amount of reddish-brown SLOP that came out of my pipes and into my tub. He said that was all rust and crap that was all over my coil.

The technician first said yeah it was pretty bad. Then 15 minutes when he was still flushing more out... he couldn't believe how bad it was in my house. He said it was probably never done by the previous home owners.

I have TONS of hot water now... no separate hot water heater. He also turned down the temperature on the boiler so I will be saving more fuel now since the furnace doesn't have to work extra hard to produce the hot water now that all the rust is gone.


I got this work done by Hot Water Plus and their number is 5165410349. It only cost me $79 buks to clean the coil too... real cheap! For an extra $79 buks they offer to clean out all the piping in your house (hot and cold). I had this done as well... and I am glad I did cause I had a ton of rust and slop in my cold water pipes as well.


If you go out and get a separate tank... you may still have the same problem if your coil isn't running efficiently due to rust buildup. He said this should be done on average once a year. Its worth a shot... worked great for me.