Probably past time to replace our 30 year-old oil boiler and looking for suggestions. We're in the north country and forced hot water has been our primary means of heat. We now also have mini-splits and used them some for heating last winter however they're not enough when it gets really cold, so we still need something else. Getting a gas boiler is probably a non-starter given the extra costs of venting gas. Is there something else other than a replacement boiler we should look at? Or is there a new type of oil boiler that pairs up with PV and PWs?
Heating in the north country
- Thread starter zƬesla
- Start date
What are you using for domestic hot water? The obvious answer to electric hot water is a heat pump water heater. You could either dedicate another heat pump storage water heater to heating fluid for the radiant heat system, or a direct air source to water heat pump that heats and circulates without a storage tank, or if you have enough output, use a pump/heat exchanger to take heat out of the domestic hot water storage tank.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I've installed a Chiltrix CX34 heat pump unit with hydronic heating and hot water tank on the same unit.
Works great (in the Sierras at 6000 ft so it does get cold here). Had if for a few years.
Very efficient. If you need more than 34,000 BTU, you can stack up to 8 units.
Ostrichsak
Active Member
Your profile location displayed under your avatar reads "US" and "North Country" is a relative and subjective term so you may want to be more specific on where you're talking about.
OP here. Located in northern NH. Portable hot water comes through boiler and is stored in an indirect hot water tank (SuperStor) that just holds at temp. Currently 7 heating zones, although two in unfinished basement are likely to be dropped as part of upgrade.
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In that case, find out how many BTU your boiler is and look for a heat pump of similar capacity. You may not even have to change the storage tank.
Plaque on boiler shows 195 Cap MBH and 169.6 Water MBH.
How well would a heat pump handle handle multi-zone heating and potable hot water in below 0F?
Nice thing about current setup is electrical use can be minimized in case of an outage by only using oil boiler for heat and turning off mini-splits allowing prolonged PV/PW use. I’m assuming heat pump for water requires a bit of electricity.
How well would a heat pump handle handle multi-zone heating and potable hot water in below 0F?
Nice thing about current setup is electrical use can be minimized in case of an outage by only using oil boiler for heat and turning off mini-splits allowing prolonged PV/PW use. I’m assuming heat pump for water requires a bit of electricity.
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