My Nyletherm Thread

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The dishwaher was turned on right before a shower. A few minutes after the shower was over, the energy meter seemed to indicate the upper element came on. I set the upper thermostat down more and will see how that goes.
It didn't go that well-client complaints. Set both to 125 now.
 
Congrats John193! Stick it to the oil man and his oily friends.

The real fun is how much less AC you will need, not b/c of the cooling of the geospring, but because of the reduction in heat from the boiler.

With my boiler, the summer usage was ~150 gallons, 120 of that was just wasted heat, and maybe 1500 kWh of electricity for the AC to pump it outside.
 
It didn't go that well-client complaints. Set both to 125 now.

whats the gpm of your showerhead? Use a timer to run the dishwasher at night?
 
Low flow. I'm just gonna let it go where it is. I have to tread lightly when it comes to heat/dhw experimentation.
 
Congrats John193! Stick it to the oil man and his oily friends.

The real fun is how much less AC you will need, not b/c of the cooling of the geospring, but because of the reduction in heat from the boiler.

With my boiler, the summer usage was ~150 gallons, 120 of that was just wasted heat, and maybe 1500 kWh of electricity for the AC to pump it outside.
Thanks it was exciting to kick the habit. I'm actually surprised of the amount of cold air the unit kicks out. The unit is in my unconditioned basement and I already feel that I will be using my dehumidifier less this year. The output air seems to be about 15F lower than the ambient air.

As a side note, the unit is quiet. Far quieter than my oil boiler.
 
Great thread, however I am concerned.....

.....I would be weary of those "made in china" plumbing fittings.

Here at work, we use Grainger for automatically re-stocking our consumables. There was an alert that came out a few months ago that stated we were not to use any of the "china" brass/bronze fittings on ANY potable water system because there was a possibility that the fittings did not meet the "no lead" standards.

Just make sure you are using good quality parts on your DHW & potable water systems.
 
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I am not a China basher, but I sincerely feel that their plumbing products in our infrastructure is a set up for serious problems. I have had a few expensive failures already and now will do whatever it takes to keep them out of our plumbing.
 
I used fittings from the HD and Lowes. They were in little plastic bags that said they were lead free. I believe they were by Watts. They are made in China.
 
A little lead content in the brass won't kill you. This lead free requirement is very new and to worry about it now would mean you should worry about replacing every other fitting in the supply. I worry more about low quality chinese stuff leaking or failing after installation.
 
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I noticed in one of your pictures that you had an orange 10 gauge wire feeding a junction box. From that junction box there are two BX cables going out to what I assume is the both the electric water heater and the Nyletherm. If they are wired to a common breaker what happens when both the electric elements and the Nyletherm are calling for power? Overload?
 
Installed my Nyleatherm last month. Collecting about a gallon of water a day. I'm running mine with the lower heating element disabled. So if the kids run the shower down to cold...well the unit will most likely frost up and be idle for a while. We have a 56 gallon tank and so far, no cold shower with a family of 4. First month electric bill dropped from 285 to 106 cause wee not using any heating elements in the tank and the duhumidifier is gone. So far I'm pretty impressed. Yeah, like a dummy I ran the pex tubes over the power supply line. Didn't realize until I crimped the ends. Oh well, fix it some day.

image.jpg
 
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The lower element is replaced by the Nyletherm.
Actually, if wired by the instructions, the lower element is relayed through the nyle. In a frost situation where the nyle shuts down the lower element will come on until the nyle thaws out. In my install I did bypass it just to see if I could get along with out it. So far so good.
 
As a side note, the unit is quiet. Far quieter than my oil boiler.
I can't help but wonder if the newer generation of GeoSprings (red top) are quieter than the first (blue top)?
I moved our 1st gen GeoSpring recently and took the opportunity to clean it. There are 2 "muffin" type DC fans of rather small diameter which may explain the noise. I can't help but think that that a centrifugal (squirrel cage) blower would work much better on these.
As a side note I'd recommend that 1st gen owners remove the plastic top clamshell and clean their unit regularly. A lot of detritus had made its way through the filter and into the heat exchanger.
 
Semipro, the fan design may have something to do with it. The red top model has a single fan. I'm guessing 8 to 10 inches in diameter.

Mine is in my furnace room in my unconditioned basement. With the door shut I cannot hear it. When running is is no louder than my frigidaire dehumidifier. It has that characteristic hum, but it isn't over bearing by any mean. I'm actually more surprised how quickly the heat pump dehumidifies and cools the surrounding space. I've had mine running for 6 days now, completely negligible on my electric consumption (though it's just me and the mrs). The unit doesn't even turn on to recover heat after I shower but does run about 1.5 to 2 hours after her. It's set on hybrid only @ 125F.
 
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Actually, if wired by the instructions, the lower element is relayed through the nyle. In a frost situation where the nyle shuts down the lower element will come on until the nyle thaws out. In my install I did bypass it just to see if I could get along with out it. So far so good.
I didn't realize that. You still have the upper element?
 
I didn't realize that. You still have the upper element?
Yes, upper is still there but I haven't seen the light kick on. I checked when the water started running cold. Either my indicator light is malfunctioned or the upper element is bunk. I should do a resistance check on it but it's all sealed up now. And I'm kinda busy.
 
While waiting around this morning til it gets to be a respectable hour for chainsawing, I noted that after my morning shower, the unit ran for about an hour at 700 watts or so, shut off momentarily, and then ran fan-only for 10 minutes or so at about 60 watts. Both thermos are set at 125. I'm gonna measure the water temp from the faucet at some point. I wonder if my outside thermometer goes that high..
 
I don't suppose anyone on here is planning a trip from Maine to NS anytime soon, and would like to bring me one of these? ==c

I'll even buy you dinner & beers when you get here. ::-)
 
I'm going to try an estimated 130f. Client grumbling, but maybe if it runs more it will take more water out of the air. I'll give it a whirl anyway.
 
Still seems to run an hour after average shower. Quick recovery element doesn't come on. Client happy.
 
Do you have any temp guages on any of your DHW things?

I'm thisclose to taking the Nyletherm plunge - just wish shipping to north of the border wasn't quite so costly.
 
No temp gauges, just the thermostats on the electric water heater.

I just put in a condensate pump. Little Giant. I used vinyl tubing, 3/8" I think. What's not great is that it was on a roll and got flattened towards the end. I ran some water through it a few times and it seems to work okay anyway.
 
Got electric bill for June:
316 kwh for 28 days = 11.3 kwh/day. utility and customer readings.
Last June
350 kwh for 28 days = 12.5 kwh/day. utility and customer readings.

They're both comparable, so it looks like I'm saving some energy. Plus, even though the humidity down in the basement gets in the 80's, there still is no condensation on the pipes.
 
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