I am in the process of installing an outside wood boiler. I was wondering if anyone could give me input as to connecting a plate heat xchanger or sidearm as a backup to my tankless electric heater. Will the plate heat xchanger provide enough hot water without a storage tank if I by-pass the tankless? The tankless is a Powerstar AE 125 by Bosch and it does a good job for my house but I would like to utilize the free heat from the boiler to heat my domestic water in the winter. Any help would be appreciated as I am new to this forum. Thanks
Tankless electric water heater connection question
- Thread starter Banjoman
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Welcome to the hearth, A side arm won't do you any good without a tank. I think you need a plate HX probably 20 or 30 plate.
Depending on lowest boiler water temp you want to be able to use. I Know of a member here that put a flow switch on
his DHW and uses a 30 plate, so when a faucit turns on It starts a circulator and he has on demand hot water.
Depending on lowest boiler water temp you want to be able to use. I Know of a member here that put a flow switch on
his DHW and uses a 30 plate, so when a faucit turns on It starts a circulator and he has on demand hot water.
Thanks for the info, I like the idea of using a flow switch and pump. What about putting the HX plate in the same loop ( In series) as the air xchanger as it flows hot water continuously or would it be best to have it's own loop? What about connecting using tees (in parallel) with the air xchange loop?
Consider putting the HX on the input side of the Bosch. The HX could be fed in series with your air exchanger. That way if the HX is undersized your Bosch will 'finish the job'. Putting the HX on the discharge side of the Bosch could be a problem, as upon flow, the Bosch will try to deliver hot water - it can't 'see' the HX downstream of it. You might need a thermostatic mix valve after the HX to blend the water going into the Bosch to 140* or so if you have extremely high boiler water temps.
So you think the hot water entering the Bosch from the HX will do no harm to the unit? As mentioned in the earlier post, I plan to turn the breakers off to the Bosch while using the OWB water so it may not matter anyway. Thanks for the reply.
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