Hot water options

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Hot water options

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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 16 5:36 pm Post subject: Hot water options

I'm having a bit of a rethink on how to heat the hot water in our new house. I had planned on having a boiler in either a wood burner or a wood fueled range. However, a boiler will make the wood burner more expensive, less efficient and will require extra plumbing, possibly a pump etc.

Thinking about what uses the water the washing machine cold fills, a dishwasher will cold fill and I currently plan to install an electric shower. So, we don't need a vast tank of hot water.

Simple solution would be an immersion heater. We have room for solar of some sort, we could install solar hot water tubes but would PV be an easier option these days and dump the energy via a low wattage immersion heater? There'd be less plumbing and I hope to expand on the PV when time permits.

Any other options? I'd like to keep things simple and with acidic water I'm also not keen on spending a fortune on hot cylinders and piping for it to be rotted through in a few years.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 16 5:56 pm Post subject:

To heat the water via solar PV you'd need an inverter that matches the power demand of the immersion heater, assuming the circuit wasn't on the household mains circuit and that could get expensive if all you're using the solar PV just to heat water.

If using solar PV it's better to integrate water heating as part of the total solution rather than as a separate isolated system.

A back boiler on he burner is simple and would don't use a pump as it's gravity fed but you may need to comply with recently revised building regulations regarding the header tank. This is the route we're taking with our new stove.

Solar hot water maybe the most effective system for you, during the summer months.

pollyanna

Joined: 03 Nov 2012
Posts: 221

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 16 11:29 pm Post subject:
Acidic water should not be a problem if you specify a lined boiler.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 16 6:17 am Post subject:

As mentioned I had wanted the stove to heat the water but there's a lot of advice against it, just yesterday I went into a local stove shop and they seemed knowledgeable and were far from keen on boilers on wood burners.

At the moment I think going for simplicity is best. But considering costs what does a small solar water system cost to buy and install these days? A quick look at he energy saving trust says �3000 - �5000, that's about 25 years worth of immersion heating.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 16 1:45 pm Post subject:
Is it just hot water taps that you'll need? What about those little heaters that are basically hand-sized electric showers? They look awful when bodged into a shop's loo, but designed and planned properly might be worth a look?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 16 4:14 pm Post subject:

NorthernMonkeyGirl wrote:

Is it just hot water taps that you'll need? What about those little heaters that are basically hand-sized electric showers? They look awful when bodged into a shop's loo, but designed and planned properly might be worth a look?

Funny you should say that. The main daily use would be hot water for hand washing and then I remembered that the hot tank is a fair distance from the bathroom taps and it takes ages for the water to warm up. I thought about those old style hot water heaters and after a quick search there are more modern ones that can be hidden and supply a whole room or just a single tap. Certainly something else worth thinking about.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46209
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 16 1:46 pm Post subject:
the one rob got for the meat room does enough hot water for an end of day cleandown (maybe 50 lt ? ) and heats it to 70 c in about an hour . i spose a mini immersion heater rather than a heats as it feeds type thing is the best way to describe it. the heats as it feeds type are smaller and might be better for domestic use but iirc there are small heat and store ones for hand washing etc.

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