Suggestions to reduce oil consumption for hot water heater

[capecod]

Hi,
I have a pellet stove (Harman P68) which is the primary heat source for my house. I still use oil to heat my hot water (indirect). Always looking for ways to decrease oil consumption. A "heat manager" was suggested. Would this be helpful and reduce the need for oil?
Thanks,
Marina

 

[sloeffle]

Heat pump hot water heater. Lots of options to choose from.

You can learn a lot about them in https://www.hearth.com/talk/forums/the-green-room.11/

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You could probably heat your hot water for a small fraction of what you are paying for oil HW with a good old ordinary electric hot water heater. The new ones are well insulated and very effecient. I have a 30 Gal with a family of 5 and i get plenty of HW for a few dollars a month. Kick the oil habit altogether.

 

[mustash29]

What controls does the oil boiler have?

What are the temp settings?

What temp does it maintain when a zone or the indirect is not calling for heat?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If you have a boiler that maintains boiler temp 24/7 you are wasting an enormous amount of oil just maintaining boiler temp. Even if your house is not calling for any hot water. This kind of setup is the worst possible solution cost wise as opposed to a regular oil fired domestic water heater.

 

[Fred61]

If it's a cold start boiler, you have the most expensive way to heat DHW there is.
I installed a Geyser heat pump unit on my indirect tank for use in the summer and make my DHW with wood in the winter.

 

[velvetfoot]

I also got a cheap electric heater instead of indirect oil. Heat pump water heater would've been nice, but expensive. Perhaps if NY ever gets off its ass and has some rebates...

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Installing an expensive heat pump water heater seems overkill for 3-4 months a year of HW. For those who heat water with solid fuel in the heating season.

 

[fire_man]

You could probably heat your hot water for a small fraction of what you are paying for oil HW with a good old ordinary electric hot water heater. .

I would like to see the math behind that statement. How much per Kwh are you paying?

 

[velvetfoot]

True, but for those who potentially store wood in the basement, the dehumidying aspect would be nice.

 

[velvetfoot]

I would like to see the math behind that statement. How much per Kwh are you paying?

I personally started at least one thread.

 

[Prishie]

Hi all! I'm SO excited. This is my first post! I am having a used Quad Cumberland Gap installed as soon as I can get it in the house due to the mountains of snow. I also heat hot water with oil. It's tankless, within my furnace so the furnace kicks on 12 months a year. Would switching to an electric hot water heater be possible and if so, cost efficient? Thanks, Trish

 

[maple1]

I would like to see the math behind that statement. How much per Kwh are you paying?

I used to heat DHW with a tankless coil in an oil/wood boiler. I would estimate we burned about 150 gallons of oil to heat our DHW in the 5 or so non-heating months that we weren't burning wood.

I now have a new 80 gallon electric hot water heater, that when heating DHW with that alone in the summer, runs around $30/month in electricity (at 0.17/kwh).

A very significant difference that has been repeated over & over again on here - although tankless coil is the worst waste of oil there is, moreso than a cold start boiler with an indirect.

To the OP: exactly what kind of oil boiler setup to you have now? Is it a cold start small mass boiler? How much do you think it's costing you now per month in oil to heat your DHW with it?

 

[jeffesonm]

I installed a GE GeoSpring heat pump hot water heater last year and have since just turned off the oil boiler. There was a $500 power company rebate (plus federal energy savings rebate if you haven't taken it) plus Lowes 10% off coupon so out of pocket cost was ~$500. I have not noticed a significant bump in my electric bill, and look forward to leaving the dehumidifier off this summer too.

 

[velvetfoot]

Hi all! I'm SO excited. This is my first post! I am having a used Quad Cumberland Gap installed as soon as I can get it in the house due to the mountains of snow. I also heat hot water with oil. It's tankless, within my furnace so the furnace kicks on 12 months a year. Would switching to an electric hot water heater be possible and if so, cost efficient? Thanks, Trish

Yes, it would save a lot of money, especially in your case.

 

[velvetfoot]

Here's my fabulous thread:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/comparison-of-dhw-oil-indirect-vs-electric-tank.89754/

 

[fire_man]

Velvetfoot: Looks interesting on that thread thanks for the link.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I would like to see the math behind that statement. How much per Kwh are you paying?

About 10C a Kwh .My bill hardly changes at all when i shut down my boiler for the summer and switch to all electric hot water for 4-5 months.
Trick is not to turn it up scalding hot.

 

[fire_man]

Around here it's closer to 16C/Kwh. You Pa types have it good!

 

[velvetfoot]

Is that after the fixed customer charge is removed?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

THe most wasteful thing about an oil boiler heating domestic water is the endless hours no hot water is actually needed and the whole time the air moving thru the boiler and up the flue is cooling your just heated water down the second the flame shuts down. That was the case with my former oil boiler with the domestic coil in it. Pumping it into an insulated indirect tank helps.

 

[fire_man]

Is that after the fixed customer charge is removed?

My electric bill is broken up as follows:

Delivery service charges: 6.82C/Kwh
Supply charges: 10.025C/Kwh
Customer Charge $4.00