Trying to decide which brand of indirect hot water heater to go with. BoilerMate is easy to get at Home Depot, but alot of us here seem to use SuperStor ? Any reason for this ?
Indirect Hot Water Heater... which one ?
- Thread starter trehugr
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Dear God use a superstore. Do use a ssu series with a lifetime warranty. Spend the money once. I install all my boilers with superstore tanks. I buy close to 200 a year. They did have problems in the past with their brass well but they use a stainless well now . They are light , lifetime warranty and lose about a half a degree an hour standby loss. I love them.
New to forum.
Carefully check out the specs on the tanks. Superstor Stainless Steel are by far the best. I just picked up an 11 year old used tank, and looks and performs as if brand new. about 1/2 degree heat loss per hour. I also have a 50 Gallon Vaughn Top Perform tank in use for 3 years - has been excellent. Both are maybe 20% more the HD tank - which I wouldn't own.
Good Luck.
Dave
Belgrade
Carefully check out the specs on the tanks. Superstor Stainless Steel are by far the best. I just picked up an 11 year old used tank, and looks and performs as if brand new. about 1/2 degree heat loss per hour. I also have a 50 Gallon Vaughn Top Perform tank in use for 3 years - has been excellent. Both are maybe 20% more the HD tank - which I wouldn't own.
Good Luck.
Dave
Belgrade
another favorite is the Triangle tube. It is a tank in tank design, with the inner tank is stainless. It has a lot of surface area, very low pressure drop. You can shove a lot of btus through them. The Smart 60 for example can handle 270,000 of boiler input. This tank is sold under the Weil mcLain label, and possibly still the Aquatherm name.
I am a bit leary of tanks with finned, coiled heat exchangers, hard water can reduce the performance rather quickly and severly. SuperStor is a good tank and they have a procedure to "shock" the build up off the coils.
Another unique tank with great performance is the Ergomax or Thermomax. It is a reverse indirect style. The boiler water is in the tank and the domestic water is in the coil. They provide a buffer capacity in addition to DHW function. lots of copper inside, I suspect they are a bit spendy.
Most of the quality brands have a lifetime warranty, read the fine print however
hr
I am a bit leary of tanks with finned, coiled heat exchangers, hard water can reduce the performance rather quickly and severly. SuperStor is a good tank and they have a procedure to "shock" the build up off the coils.
Another unique tank with great performance is the Ergomax or Thermomax. It is a reverse indirect style. The boiler water is in the tank and the domestic water is in the coil. They provide a buffer capacity in addition to DHW function. lots of copper inside, I suspect they are a bit spendy.
Most of the quality brands have a lifetime warranty, read the fine print however
hr
Dave T
New Member
I picked up a used stainless steel super store 30 gal for 25 dollars with zone valve and controls I
plan on hooking up this winter..I'll update everyone when I find out if it works and how well..It seems
kinda small.. DAVE
plan on hooking up this winter..I'll update everyone when I find out if it works and how well..It seems
kinda small.. DAVE
make sure to use a good mixing valve, you can turn a 45 gallon tank into a 60 gallon by mixing down the tank temp.,, also code in many states
Dave T
New Member
I like the triangle tube smart50 myself. I have used them on quite a few jobs.
The tank in tank design has more heat exchanger surface area than the superstore by far. if you can feed them enough boiler water they will make hot water in a continous mode.
the pressure drop is very low which makes it easier for a pump. On the next job I am going to experiment and use a 3-way valve instead of a pump and divert all the primary loop water through the smart 50
The tank in tank design has more heat exchanger surface area than the superstore by far. if you can feed them enough boiler water they will make hot water in a continous mode.
the pressure drop is very low which makes it easier for a pump. On the next job I am going to experiment and use a 3-way valve instead of a pump and divert all the primary loop water through the smart 50
Sounds like a great idea ! Please keep us posted on results. Seems like a larger primary circuit without any extra piping.
Will
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