My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.

On 11/2/2014 11:20 AM, Dave C wrote:
My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.


Considering our electric rates in CT, I'd never consider electric for
anything. I'd look at propane, but I'd look t other options using the
existing or a new oil burner

A few years ago, I had a System 2000k boiler and hot water tank
installed and my oil bill decreased by 39.7% the first year. There is a
heat exchanger that uses the oil fired boiler with a separate zone.
The tank is well insulated and the boiler will not go on unless you run
the dishwasher or take a shower.

www.energykinetics.com

If he has a single unit like I had, it is very inefficient. Used to bug
me to lay in bed on a hot August nigh and hear the boiler kick on to
heat the water that would not be used for hours. No more.

I have a spreadsheet and using degree days I've tracked my oil use for a
few years Much more economical than the old systems. My house was
built in 1978 so it was ready for an upgrade.

On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 11:20:28 -0500, Dave C wrote:

My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.

My opinion is use tankless in new construction. Doing a retrofit,
moving to tankless requires research for the average John Doe. Sure a
contractor will do what you pay him to do, sell you something and make
money to have a shiny truck.

Each tankless system needs to be "sized" for what you need!! That
gets complicated and costly - depends.

Take a peek at this buying guide. It covers most everything/
consideration of tankless. (not affiliated)

http://tanklesswaterheaterguide.com/#selecting
--
"We recommend using your hand to replace the fuse as it will take much longer using your knee."

On 11/2/2014 11:20 AM, Dave C wrote:
My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.

Since your son's got oil already, that's should be
less expensive than electric. I'd leave the indirect
heater going, with the boiler. Never mind the tankless.

Tankless tend to be expensive, and would cost to install.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:30:37 -0500, wrote in


Why not just buy a regular electric water heater?

+1
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

On 11/2/2014 5:01 PM, CRNG wrote:
On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:30:37 -0500, wrote in


Why not just buy a regular electric water heater?

+1


..19 per kw hr is a good reason

On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:28:45 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 11/2/2014 11:20 AM, Dave C wrote:
My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.


Considering our electric rates in CT, I'd never consider electric for
anything.

That's a good point. Dave should consider a coal-fired tankless water
heater. The electronic ones don't have the problems the old ones did.

I'd look at propane, but I'd look t other options using the
existing or a new oil burner

On 11/2/2014 8:16 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:28:45 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.


Considering our electric rates in CT, I'd never consider electric for
anything.

That's a good point. Dave should consider a coal-fired tankless water
heater. The electronic ones don't have the problems the old ones did.


The coal fired ones, often have a large mass
capacity. I like the high mass ones, you only
have to shovel coal once a day, not four times
a day like the low mass tankless ones.

Maybe if more people put in coal fired, the
coal mines would come back to activity?


--
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On Sunday, November 2, 2014 6:13:11 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/2/2014 5:01 PM, CRNG wrote:
On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:30:37 -0500, wrote in


Why not just buy a regular electric water heater?

+1


.19 per kw hr is a good reason

Don't they have any off-peak arrangements at lower rates for WH's?
Here in NJ, even back in the 60's, we had a WH on a separate meter on
a timer, so that it only ran off-peak and at a lower rate.

Aside from the cost of electricity, a tankless capable of supplying
a whole house is going to require one hell of an electric service.
Most likely requiring the line to the house, panel, etc to be upgraded.
If I were to go with electric, it would be a tank type. The only
difference is that with tankless you save the amount of energy that
the tank loses just sitting there. He can do the math, but I bet it
will be a very long time before he recovers all the additional costs
of a tankless and just breaks even.

Since he has oil already, an oil fired hot water heater might be an
option. Not sure how much more efficient they are versus continuing
to use the existing boiler for just hot water.

Also there are heat pump based tank WH's that use electricity to run a heat
pump, greatly reducing the electricity required. I'd look into that, but
I suspect the high upfront cost would run into the same recovery period
problem as tankless.

On Sun, 02 Nov 2014 11:20:28 -0500, Dave C wrote:

My son/ wife live in Connecticuut, in an area where natural gas is
not available. He has (had) a oil fired boiler, that provided both
heat AND hot water.

Most recently he has added a pellet stove insert, that WILL provide
(most of) their home heat. He is now considering a tankless water
heater, thus stop using that boiler for (only) their hot water.

Would an electric, tankless Water heater be a viable option ?? (The
oil boiler would then be a Back Up home heating option, but not used
daily/ year round).

He has spoken with a contractor. The contractor recommended a new,
"Expensive Propane Hot water install. That does not seem viable to
me, given that they use a limited amount of hot water daily.

Thanks for the advise

On 11/3/2014 7:51 AM, trader_4 wrote:


.19 per kw hr is a good reason

Don't they have any off-peak arrangements at lower rates for WH's?
Here in NJ, even back in the 60's, we had a WH on a separate meter on
a timer, so that it only ran off-peak and at a lower rate.


Ther is Variable Peak Pricing, but from what I see, it is no bargain.
Don't know if there are other options.


Aside from the cost of electricity, a tankless capable of supplying
a whole house is going to require one hell of an electric service.
Most likely requiring the line to the house, panel, etc to be upgraded.
If I were to go with electric, it would be a tank type.

Agree that tankless is not the way to go.




Since he has oil already, an oil fired hot water heater might be an
option. Not sure how much more efficient they are versus continuing
to use the existing boiler for just hot water.

Oil fired water heaters are on the expensive side compared to gas or
electric. Then you have that flue thing to deal with.

A tankless conversion to the existing boiler is probably one of the best
methods. It is set up as a separate zone and yhou have an insulated
water tank. It only fires the burner on temperature drop. With fast
recovery times, you don't need a huge tank for lots of hot water.