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Thread Number: 85406
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
What Temperature Is Your Tap Hot Water? |
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Post# 1099514 12/6/2020 at 02:21 (1,237 days old) by Launderess  (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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It's heating season here (though you wouldn't know it by outdoor temps in 50's and low 60's for past few weeks), so boilers are set to "winter" to provide steam for heating well as hot water.
Noticed about a week ago tap hot water is *HOT*. I mean far to hot to bear for an instant. While this does make for lovely steamy hot showers, and great if one is on a sanitizing jig with buckets of hot water and disinfectant it cannot be generally safe. Got a thermometer out yesterday and tap water hits 179.8 degrees Fahrenheit! Thought take advantage of this near boiling water out of tap to run a "maintenance" wash in some of the washing machines. First up was the Miele and it was *NOT* happy with incoming water that hot. Machine filled alright but first tumble of drum sent scalding hot water shooting up out of detergent drawer. While mopping up that mess noticed water hose was far to soft with connections rather warm. Let machine finish first cycle, drained and short spin, scrub rest! Didn't wish to harm something! Opened the door and huge wafts of steam came bellowing out. Hahahaha! Won't be doing that again, but to take advantage of this new found bounty of uber hot water will haul out the Maytag wringer and some of those packets of vintage Persil 59 detergent and soap powder. They were made for really hot washes (and a few subsequent rinses as well), so that's me sorted. | ||
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Post# 1099515 , Reply# 1 12/6/2020 at 02:46 (1,237 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay) |
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 I have my tankless heater set to 135.
Pausing here to let the gasping wind down . . .
I've thought about bumping it up to an extravagant 140, but with Dave in assisted living now, the days of really funky wash loads requiring extensive stain treatments are over in this household, and 135 seems to get the job done on whites with boosters added.
My FWB lives in a 4-plex and his hot water is absolutely scalding. That seems like overkill to me, but since there's just one set of machines in the communal laundry room, if I lived there and had to share them with others, I'd be taking advantage of the super hot washes for sure (assuming the commercial coin-op Whirlpool doesn't dumb down the temperature), just in case the other tenants preferred only warm and/or (yikes) cold.
I can't imagine tap water hot enough to brew tea is good for hoses, fittings and valve components on clothes washers, dishwashers, or even faucets for that matter. | ||
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Post# 1099520 , Reply# 2 12/6/2020 at 04:51 (1,237 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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Post# 1099522 , Reply# 3 12/6/2020 at 06:08 (1,237 days old) by polkanut (Wausau, WI ) |
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Post# 1099524 , Reply# 4 12/6/2020 at 06:46 (1,237 days old) by luxflairguy (Wilmington NC) |
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my tank is set at 130. | ||
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Post# 1099526 , Reply# 5 12/6/2020 at 06:50 (1,237 days old) by chachp (North Little Rock, AR) |
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Ours is set to a little higher than Medium | ||
| Post# 1099527 , Reply# 6 12/6/2020 at 06:55 (1,237 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea)) | ||
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Post# 1099528 , Reply# 7 12/6/2020 at 06:59 (1,237 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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Post# 1099530 , Reply# 8 12/6/2020 at 07:31 (1,237 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey) |
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mine has always been set at 160....
were not full set into the Winter season yet, but I can tell when the outside temp has dropped as I have to adjust the tub knob more to the left past the center sweet spot.... if I was the only person living alone, and had only one machine, I could consider dropping it down some....but there are times of running machines and two showers at the same time with no loss of pressure/temps.....I envy some homes of having two tanks! | ||
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Post# 1099533 , Reply# 9 12/6/2020 at 08:26 (1,237 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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 104°F is normal (or 103°F or 102°F) Sometimes 97°F for a cooler shower after yard work. 112°F for a whirlpool-tub soak. 122°F to 125°F for handwashing the non-stick skillet or other items. 115°F to 122°F for warm laundry. 133°F to 140°F (can't go higher) for hot laundry.
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Post# 1099545 , Reply# 10 12/6/2020 at 11:24 (1,237 days old) by marky_mark (From Liverpool. Now living in Palm Springs and Dublin) |
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 I'm surprised that your hot water is that hot, Launderess. Is it the same for other/all apartments in your building? I would have thought that the building's management would have taken steps to reduce that temperature due to concerns over liability / duty-of-care issues if someone were to get injured. Even if the system cannot reasonably provide cooler hot water at this time of year, I'm surprised they haven't installed tempering valves (for example) to reduce the temperature of the hot water entering the apartments. I wonder if this is supposed to be the case, but your apartment may be receiving abnormally hot water due to a fault/oversight. | ||
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Post# 1099553 , Reply# 11 12/6/2020 at 11:48 (1,237 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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I have ours set at 120. When I run the washer or dishwasher I let the water run in the sinks until it reaches that temp, not that I check it too often, but it takes a good minute at full blast. Our laundry is never really dirty, mucky, whatever. If there is a stain on a shirt for example, I'll just spray some Resolve on it, wait the requisite minutes et voila. I guess I'm of the camp where today's top rated laundry detergents can handle the worst and don't require extra hot water.
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Post# 1099555 , Reply# 12 12/6/2020 at 11:56 (1,237 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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Post# 1099559 , Reply# 13 12/6/2020 at 12:11 (1,237 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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I agree with both Petek and Marky Mark.
Especially about hot water coming out of the tap at 179F, thats just too damn hot and dangerous! I’m surprised that first of all a landlord would spend the extra dollars maintaining the hot water at this temp and secondly that they would put themselves in such a potentially libelous situation. Someone gets a severe burn and they're gonna call Chetem and Wynn and win big. And I agree that most modern detergents can remove dirt, grim and germs from laundry with hot water between 120-130F. When we had our current water heater installed 10 years ago it came with the thermostat set at 120F by law. I requested that the plumber raise the temp to 130F, we met at the middle on 125F and thats been perfectly adequate for our needs. And 125F must be sufficient to kill everyday household germs because neither of us is ever sick, knock on wood! We keep our home spotlessly clean, use good detergents, disinfectants and other cleaning products and wash the laundry weekly, change the bed weekly, change the kitchen towels and dish clothes daily. The floors and bathrooms are cleaned by hand weekly, no dirty toilet brushes or filthy mops. And the laundry always comes out clean, fresh smelling, stain and lint free by washing everything in 125F hot water. Eddie | ||
| Post# 1099560 , Reply# 14 12/6/2020 at 12:18 (1,237 days old) by qsd-dan (West) | ||
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Post# 1099564 , Reply# 15 12/6/2020 at 12:28 (1,237 days old) by kenwashesmonday (Carlstadt, NJ) |
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145F at the kitchen faucet.
This works out well since I always run the Maytag Jetclean portable dishwasher on 'light wash' without using the 'accu temp' or 'heated dry' options. Having the machine parked in front of the sink for 53 minutes is long enough. | ||
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Post# 1099578 , Reply# 16 12/6/2020 at 14:37 (1,237 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Excerpted from a leading consumer reporting magazine As far as I'm concerned I'll live by they're reporting. Unless someone else can show me any other testing organizations methods and results which are also repeatable. | ||
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Post# 1099589 , Reply# 17 12/6/2020 at 16:15 (1,237 days old) by joeekaitis (Rialto, California, USA) |
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This post has been removed by the member who posted it. | ||
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Post# 1099599 , Reply# 18 12/6/2020 at 17:10 (1,237 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.)) |
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Water Temp:
Our 50 Gallon Gas WH is set to 140.
Launderess: Dear Lady 180f/82C is WAY too hot for tap water. You could run a commercial dish machine in that building WITHOUT a booster heater and it would keep temp. That has to be some kind of code violation for a residential building. Agreed though that the MT would be in it's element with this water temp. Could do several loads before the water cooled off. WK78 | ||
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Post# 1099607 , Reply# 19 12/6/2020 at 17:36 (1,237 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Interesting comments,
Thanks guys!
Now you know me, I'm never one to speak out of turn, nor like to stir quiet pools. So unless someone else complains won't be first out of the gate. Like many other places with steam or hot water heat our hot water isn't from a tank (stored), but a coil off the boiler. In winter when boiler is set hotter (to supply steam for heat) obviously that higher temp influences hot water. There probably is some sort of mixing/tempering valve somewhere, but given temps here haven't been that cold, neither is tap water. So even if there is some sort of tempering going on the cold water isn't bringing things down, or maybe it is within given set ratio, but that isn't enough..... Over years have commented that in winter boilers give off very hot water. The Mobile Maid DW loves it, and of course when doing laundry by hand or with various semi-automatic (Hoover TT, Maytag wringer....) what could be better! Haven't attempted doing a "hot" wash in either using this "boiling from tap water". In fact likely won't until can lay hands on a washer fill hose that will withstand such high temps. After today's earlier experiment obviously standard American "rubber" or whatever fill hoses aren't up to the task. European "hot" water fill hoses on my Miele, Lavamat and AEG/Electrolux are rated to 70 degrees Celsius, a temp that is still lower than what comes out of taps. So that's me for you.... Bit of background..... | ||
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Post# 1099613 , Reply# 20 12/6/2020 at 17:54 (1,237 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 1099620 , Reply# 21 12/6/2020 at 18:35 (1,237 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Yes, one was aware of that fact. | ||
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Post# 1099648 , Reply# 23 12/7/2020 at 00:57 (1,236 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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MattL Your water rates are probably high because it probably is sourced from Lake Huron as is Flints. Every municipality in the US and Canada that sources their water from one of the great lakes was required to upgrade their sanitary sewers etc by separating them and basically have to bear the costs. Port Huron rates skyrocketed, Sarnia's rates skyrocketed . How the municipality puts the cost onto the homeowner can vary.. Some initially jacked their usage rates up like Sarnia did, which caused people to stop using as much water, so they rejigged it , lowered the usage rates but jacked up the sewer rate and admin fees to compensate. | ||
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Post# 1099650 , Reply# 24 12/7/2020 at 01:29 (1,236 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI) |
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Exactly. I'm paying $200ish every 3 months for 1 person with all new water efficient appliances. Just put in a new 1.25g toilet replacing the on 3-5g 55 year old original one. I long ago quit using my in ground sprinklers. | ||
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Post# 1099651 , Reply# 25 12/7/2020 at 01:36 (1,236 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Last time I check, the gas fired 50 gallon water heater measured out at 135-140 at the nearest tap. It seems to vary because, I guess, there's a range there.
It's plenty hot for the Neptune washer. The Miele washers sit in the workshop which has only cold water, but they heat it quite well on their own. And the Bosch DW in the main house takes that 135 water to whatever it needs. Again, relatively efficiently. I usually run the nearest tap (kitchen sink) to make sure it gets tap hot water to begin with. | ||
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Post# 1099655 , Reply# 27 12/7/2020 at 03:00 (1,236 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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"And in the first place I described they could use fuel oil or natural gas to fire the boiler."
Duel fuel boilers are very common in north east as well, well in areas where buildings have access to natural gas supplies. Beauty is that during or after a really bad storm a building doesn't have to worry if oil deliveries are delayed. | ||
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Post# 1099677 , Reply# 28 12/7/2020 at 08:39 (1,236 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA) |
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In Michigan, the water rates increase in SEMI are coming from storm water charges--they're having to deal with under-investment in the storm sewer system so they charge for the "impermeable" area of your lot. As water here in SEMI is a municipal function, each city/twp can handle it how they wish. We live in a tiny city which is pretty transparent, and the old-guard city manager used the water department and billing as a bit of a "slush fund" to keep everything balanced. It was a several-year effort to get everything untangled. Everyone's water bill around here has three components--water usage (rates relatively linear based on distance from DWSD--Detroit). sewer usage (associated with water usage) and storm water handling. Flint's situation related to their distance from Detroit Water and Sewerage...i.e. expensive, but their water treatment was customized to water with that makeup. When they changed to a cheaper local source for water, they didn't alter their water treatment regime, which then etched the pipes and caused all the problems. Switching back doesn't help, because the oxide coating is depleted. Thus you have a mess---expensive, unsafe water the effects of which are going to redound for generations.
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Post# 1099678 , Reply# 29 12/7/2020 at 08:44 (1,236 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA) |
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The storm water aspects of things get really hairy, because the problem is the combined (storm and sanitary) sewer system here (and in many larger cities) which gets overwhelmed with the stronger/more localized rain patterns. When the rain is locally heavy, it overwhelms the combined system leading to flooded basements AND spillage of untreated sewage into the Detroit River/Lake St. Clair. All the pavement in the city of Detroit and surrounding areas contributes to the problem--we've got pretty good soil to handle it (nice black dirt) but if it's covered up with asphalt/concrete, the water has to go somewhere. The churches in the city of Detroit are in a particular pickle, as they are assessed for their sqft of parking area and there can be charges of 10s of thousands to account for it.
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| Post# 1099772 , Reply# 30 12/8/2020 at 06:56 (1,235 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan) | ||
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No point heating 40 gallons ofwater above 130f. for us two. Wsaher has a heater, and I use steam usually for large loads. Anti-bacterial for dishwasher has a final rinse temp. dealy. If dishes have sat a few days, I also use steam option. Average twice weekly run. Probably why our water heater has lasted since 2002, knock wood. | ||
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Post# 1099786 , Reply# 31 12/8/2020 at 08:12 (1,235 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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Just over 60°C | ||
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Post# 1099836 , Reply# 35 12/8/2020 at 13:41 (1,235 days old) by parunner58 (Davenport, FL) |
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Post# 1099855 , Reply# 36 12/8/2020 at 16:00 (1,235 days old) by philcobendixduo (San Jose) |
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50 gallon gas water heater and the hot water at the tap is 120f with the thermostat set at "HOT".
Honeywell thermostat has these settings - WARM, HOT, A, B, C, D, VERY HOT. I find that temperature quite adequate for clothes washing and dish washing. Very little cold water is needed to temper the hot water for my showers. | ||
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Post# 1099871 , Reply# 37 12/8/2020 at 17:21 (1,235 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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145F year round. | ||
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Post# 1099976 , Reply# 38 12/9/2020 at 16:55 (1,234 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Problem solved | ||
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Post# 1099995 , Reply# 40 12/9/2020 at 19:35 (1,233 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Thanks for all kind wishes and concerns.
Turns out issue was pretty much what one suspected; boiler was out of whack and situation was addressed.
Every boiler for hot water or steam has a "high/low" differential setting that keeps water from getting too hot or cold. Apparently the high limit failed or was out of kilter allowing water in boiler to get far hotter than it should. Thus even with a tempering or mixing valve we were still getting tap hot water at scalding temps because there just wasn't enough cold water to overcome the super heated coming out of boiler. There are various mixing/tempering systems, some mechanical and others electronic. IIRC the electronic versions have more leeway in controlling final water temp because they can be set to automatically adjust hot and cold intake to produce final water temp within a certain range. The mechanical or others have to be manually set and or adjusted. Miele solenoids and hot water... Yes, looking at them online Miele states their water intake valves are rated for 85 degrees C. But as both triple and single intake valves for my washer are NLA from Miele USA am not keen to test those limits. *LOL* | ||
| Post# 1100003 , Reply# 41 12/9/2020 at 20:02 (1,233 days old) by iej (.... ) | ||
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Scary! Glad it didn't do any serious damage. Surprising that it didn't trip a secondary failsafe thermal cutout at that kind of temperature. Usually they have a simple thermal switch somewhere as backup, should the electronics ever go nuts. | ||
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Post# 1100005 , Reply# 42 12/9/2020 at 20:04 (1,233 days old) by Marky_mark (From Liverpool. Now living in Palm Springs and Dublin) |
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Post# 1100010 , Reply# 43 12/9/2020 at 20:29 (1,233 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Don't know what sort of system is used, was only laying out what is out there as also noted in above YT video. We have some very old housing stock in NYC and not all of it is anywhere near modern when it comes to HVAC.
Case in point plenty of buildings have same boilers that were installed when they went up early as late 1800's through early 1900's (coal fired), and late as 1960's or 1970's (oil fired). Coal was swapped out for oil and possibly duel fuel (oil and gas), while many oil fired boilers also are same. But in many cases owners just keep the old boilers going owing to expense and bother of putting in new. As such heating systems are pretty much what they were when originally installed. It is rather odd why only a handful of persons noticed much less bothered to speak up about super hot water coming from taps. One of course didn't, but obviously someone did (and took their time about it), since situation finally was addressed. Haven't bothered taking temp of hot water yet, may do so when doing washing up after dinner. Suppose things are back down to the usual 150F to 160F we get this time of year when boiler is making steam for heat. | ||
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Post# 1100056 , Reply# 44 12/10/2020 at 06:35 (1,233 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK) |
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We had water heated by a fire 
Many moons ago and in the winter when the fire was lit all day the water would get so hot, You would hear it banging in the expansion pipes on its way to the cold water tank. If you did not use much hot water in the evening before going to bed you had to run off gallons of hot water to quiet it all down. Such a waste. Sadly there were no radiators connected it was something I had thought of doing but never did.
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Post# 1100071 , Reply# 45 12/10/2020 at 08:58 (1,233 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Post# 1100161 , Reply# 46 12/10/2020 at 22:14 (1,232 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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@R44
That is one of the huge drawbacks of solid fuel for heating, cooking, etc... Difficulty in controlling the fire. Coal and coke fueled fires don't truly go out. One can bank them or use dampers to lessen air intake and thus reduce heat output, but it isn't the same as say with gas, electric or oil where once heat is off, it is just that. Recall one UK member would say his grandmother would rush to get the washing or bath tub when her husband was going to bleed down excess hot water that build up in the range boiler. Practical woman that she was couldn't see "wasting" all that good hot water. This lack of sure control over coal/solid fuel fires was one of reasons so many homes, businesses and others had their boilers converted over to oil or gas soon as it became available. It is shocking when you look at how fast coal use began to go out post WWII for home, commercial and industrial use as places switched to oil or gas. Mostly oil..... Beauty of oil or gas fired boilers/heating was that it allowed full automatic control of heat. So people didn't have to wake up to a freezing cold house, go down into basements or kitchen range (where coal fire had been banked for night), stoke the fire then wait for heat. From about 1920's until post WWII years there were various devices and systems that claimed to give "automatic" heating with coal. Some were good, others not so much, none could beat oil or gas for heating. Getting rid of coal also removed tons of infrastructure from buildings (coal storage, bins for moving the stuff and taking away ashes, etc...). | ||
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Post# 1100195 , Reply# 48 12/11/2020 at 09:22 (1,232 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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Ken, would any great hot water draw cause that, like filling the washing machine with hot water, or did it depend on a certain set of circumstances like rate of flow and time? | ||
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Post# 1100306 , Reply# 53 12/12/2020 at 02:37 (1,231 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Ruud Instant Automatic Water Heaters
Were invented by a Norwegian man named.... yes, you guessed it Edwin Ruud who was working in Pennsylvania after immigrating to this country.
Piped natural gas was long available in some urban areas (it was used for gas lighting among other things), so Mr. Ruud put it to work in his instant water heater. They never ran on coal. blog.sense.com/how-americans-got... www.automaticwasher.org/c... www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/commen... levcobuilders.com/tankless-point... There were still a surprising number of those old Ruud water heaters still in operation well into 1990's. Many people move into a house they've just bought and upon finding the old thing first thought is to give it the heave. Then either via research or someone who knows what's what clues them in and the thing ends up staying. | ||
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Post# 1100354 , Reply# 54 12/12/2020 at 13:47 (1,231 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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When I was a kid we lived in a home in New England that had oil fired heat, and I think also oil fired hot water. As I understand it, the water heater was integral with the gravity air heating system. I always steered clear of the big green monster in the basement, having been warned to leave it be numerous times. Out here in California, all the water heaters have been natural gas fired, as well as the heating systems. The heating systems as such have either been gas wall or space heaters. But for the last 23 years I've enjoyed living in a place with forced air gas fired heating. The unit is in the crawl space and other than yearly replacement of the air filters upstairs, rarely if ever needs attention. After the first year or so, I replaced the manual thermostat with a fully automatic Lux 1500, which has worked great over the years.
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Post# 1100369 , Reply# 55 12/12/2020 at 15:11 (1,231 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula) |
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WOW, I've just seen on that other thread a picture of the exact heater that is in the basement. It's a Ruud "No. 95", EXACTLY like this that dhman posted years ago. (His picture)
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Post# 1100383 , Reply# 58 12/12/2020 at 18:11 (1,231 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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When properly adjusted those Ruud instant water heaters gave off tap water between 140F to 150F. There were however all sorts of clever ways they were installed.
For places still with a tank attached to coal, oil or whatever range water could be preheated in that device, then sent down to the Ruud for further heating when needed. This helped overcome the main issue with all instant water heaters, dealing with incoming tap water that was too cold for heating up to proper temperature based upon flow rates. Above would make sense during colder times of year (or certain climates) allowing the range (which would be have a fire going anyway) to provide "free" preheating of water lessened the work of Ruud unit. Believe also there were ways to run these Ruud heaters into a storage tank with some sort of circulation system. This would address need of high demand for hot water in excess of what one Ruud unit could provide. Also think these units could be run in tandem (like modern instant water heaters) which again addresses issues of cold to very tap water being brought up to proper "hot" temperature. No, by modern standards these old Ruud units are't energy efficient. But that is the first comment all sort of so called professionals (plumbers, inspectors, etc..) make about any "old" bit of equipment. Faced with something they know little to nothing about, and don't want to take time to understand, their instant reaction is to rip the thing out and replace with new. Of course for a plumber or some others there is money to be made which surely factors into that advice. forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion... | ||
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Post# 1100394 , Reply# 60 12/13/2020 at 00:08 (1,230 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Well if you look at a 50 year old gas water heater, and then a new version, you'll notice the insulation is about twice a thick on the newer model. That translates directly into less heat loss and better energy efficiency. There are probably other advances regarding venting of exhaust gasses. And then there are the on demand models that only heat the water as it is being used.
I addressed the energy efficiency issue on the 40 year old 50 gallon water heater here by wrapping an extra inch of insulation around it. There are lots of marketing ploys with regard to energy efficiency. For example, my new neighbor recently replaced all the windows on his house with double pane numbers. He said it set him back about $50k. Yikes. But he still says parts of the house are hard to heat. I researched the whole home heating issue about 15 years ago. The materials I reviewed pointed out that windows comprise only a small fraction of the total living space envelope. So I made sure the aluminum slider windows all got new felts (they rattled in the wind!). And then I insulated the attic floor and under the living space floor with fibreglass, to about R-25. I also wrapped all the forced air heating ductwork, including the air return, with at least 1" insulation. I also made sure that any air leaks from the living space to the attic were sealed off. The end result is that it slashed my heating bills in half, at least. | ||
| Post# 1102290 , Reply# 62 12/28/2020 at 11:09 (1,215 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
My water gets out at 172F most of the times, not less than 145 when my sister or father living in the other parts of the mansion also use it and water in the tank is still heating. I have solar panels and a wood powered large furnace that burns a load for 2 days and LP gas for summer.
If I set it lower I wouldn't get water hot enough to do my whites. Good thing about solar panels and wood furnace is that we have virtually "free" hot water, of course wood cutting and stashing is quite a job but we have much land and many trees and you do not need to pay for the gym! 😂 Triple win! | ||
| Post# 1102291 , Reply# 63 12/28/2020 at 11:13 (1,215 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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Oh and of course the furnace also heats radiators.
Though I have a wood cooking stove at my place and that is all I used to cook in the winter time and it heats my whole place too that I need to turn on radiators very rarely. Food cooked and baked on and in a wood stove just taste a thousand times better | ||
| Post# 1102294 , Reply# 64 12/28/2020 at 11:24 (1,215 days old) by Kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.) | ||
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| Post# 1102792 , Reply# 66 1/1/2021 at 17:32 (1,211 days old) by drhardee ( Columbia, SC) | ||
 Hmmm...interesting. Our Rinnai tankless HWH is set to 108 F. I set it at that temperature as that's as hot as we like our showers (with the shower valve set to completely hot), with no "tempering" from cold water. | ||
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Post# 1102805 , Reply# 67 1/1/2021 at 19:25 (1,210 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Tempering Hot Water
Much depends upon source of hot water....
As shown in training videos above those getting hot water from a side arm or coil off a boiler that is making hot water or steam for heating likely will need some sort of tempering system. Otherwise there is a great risk of water at nearly or truly scalding temperatures coming out of the taps. Tankless and even tanked (storage) water heaters are a different matter. There you have things a bit easier to control temp of water. Not long ago Ruud and other makers of tanked water heaters offered models with dual temps. High (180F) for automatic or semi automatic washing machines along with dishwashers, and low (about 130F) for bathing and other uses. Recall growing up both in our house and many others children weren't allowed to touch hot water taps. Our baths and showers were adjusted by adults because water was just that hot out of taps. Tempering hot water generated by boilers isn't new. Biltmore estate in NC as originally built had two huge coal fired boilers that also heated water. Hot water for domestic use was tempered. OTOH there was one pipe that gave straight hot water that went to laundry/utility area. | ||
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Post# 1102807 , Reply# 68 1/1/2021 at 19:32 (1,210 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Heating water off the boiler
Is in the cross hairs of green movement, and may soon go way of Dodo in many areas.
Greens don't like fact that getting hot water via coil in or off the boiler means that thing must fire all year long. This even when heat isn't called for such as during warmer times of year. They see this as a waste of energy.... Their preferred method for hot water involves any sort of stand alone system ranging from solar to instant or any combination to exclusion of tank/storage heaters. Storage is fine if water is heated say by solar or some other green method, but just keeping a tank of water heated by gas, electric or oil isn't on... OTOH keeping boilers fired all year long in many instances keeps corrosion down and extends life of same. Heated water has oxygen driven off, and that oxygen is what causes metals to corrode especially old cast iron boilers. Of course if one goes with a higher grade of stainless steel.... | ||
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Post# 1102818 , Reply# 69 1/1/2021 at 20:23 (1,210 days old) by warmsecondrinse (Fort Lee, NJ) |
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LOL, that second paragraph is too complicated for most of the greens. And extending the life of a boiler makes carbon footprint calculation too abstract..... | ||
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Post# 1102839 , Reply# 70 1/2/2021 at 00:09 (1,210 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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If the water is pressurized in a sealed system, where does the oxygen go? It must stay in the water.
OTOH, if a boiler is drained at the end of the heating season, then I could see more oxygen hitting the now exposed inner walls. I guess it could depend on the design. A sealed system should have the same amount of oxygen inside it hot or cold. And if anything, a hotter temperature means faster corrosion, all else being equal. Out west here boilers and steam heat etc is fairly rare, at least in residential areas. We have generally milder winters in most of California, where natural gas/air heating is the norm. And, most residential hot water is provided by the tried and true tank method, although on-demand systems seem to be more energy efficient and increasing in popularity. If I ever add hot water to a separate workshop building here, it might well be an on-demand type. The only catch could be if there is insufficient gas flow to run anything but a small on-demand type unit. | ||
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Post# 1102843 , Reply# 71 1/2/2021 at 00:38 (1,210 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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See:
heatinghelp.com/systems-help-cen... There are ways to remove air from steam boilers. Quite simply you drive oxygen out of water by heating it up. There are valves on any sort of boiler from steam locomotive to residential heating that allow initial gassing off when firing up a cold boiler. See video clip below. Problem is no steam receives back 100% of water sent out to heat as a gas or vapor. Eventually water that is lost must be replaced. That fresh water contains oxygen so there you are. | ||
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