Electric heat

[Art Burtt]

I am installing solar panels in an effort to lower our utility bills. I would like to get rid of the oil burning furnace that heats our water and baseboard heaters.
If anything I'd like to keep the curent furnace as a back up system. Does any one know if there is an electric powered unit that would achieve this?

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by Art Burtt

I am installing solar panels in an effort to lower our utility bills. I would like to get rid of the oil burning furnace that heats our water and baseboard heaters.
If anything I'd like to keep the curent furnace as a back up system. Does any one know if there is an electric powered unit that would achieve this?

Sounds like an interesting project, Art.

I once mentioned to a co-worker, that when I was a kid, my dad and I incorporated a used auto radiator to run well water through, as we watered part of our huge lawn and garden daily. With a window fan behind the radiator, it cooled our family room for free, using a crude form of geothermic application. Back then, only bars and grocery stores had AC.

The co-worker related that he had done a similar thing in his previous garage. He hooked up a common household water heater and routed lines up to an overhead radiator with a fan behind it. He claimed it warmed his garage just fine with no water pump used, but convection water circulation only. He used a natural gas heater and said it only cycled on occasionally once the garage was warm.

So I wonder if you could use an electric water heater as innovative supplemental heat? The reserve water capacity could easily provide heat when the solar panels fell short at night or rainy days.

I have a fast recovery, high efficiency natural gas water heater in my home that is rated for 50K btu's. That is nearly enough btu's to heat my home in North Dakota winters, and I believe the btu rating translates. A btu is a btu. Another thought is that super-insulated homes only need about 20K btu for heat, even in super cold climates. What is the rating for your oil burner and do they downrate btu rating in newer high efficiency models for the same service, like in forced air furnaces? The older burner is likely rated for what also goes out the chimney and this loss is less with newer boilers and zero with electric heat.

It would be possible to convert my type water heater to propane when natural gas pipeslines are not available in a community, if that's an option. A benefit here might be that propane (or gas) doesn't necessarily require electrical power, if water will circulate satisfactorily by convection. Such home heating becomes self contained during electrical outages.

I think electric water heaters are usually rated less btu's than gas, but for back-up in a slightly milder climate, maybe OK. One could always double them up. Utility companies usually furnish a discount when watts are used for heat. And if used for recirculated heat-only, they would not corrode and die from minerals if distilled water were used. One other benefit, water heaters are often competitively priced, while heating companies charge a premium for dedicated boilers. Heat is heat in my book.

Food for thought.

Wes

...

[Dan40]

Originally Posted by Wes Tausend

Sounds like an interesting project, Art.

I once mentioned to a co-worker, that when I was a kid, my dad and I incorporated a used auto radiator to run well water through, as we watered part of our huge lawn and garden daily. With a window fan behind the radiator, it cooled our family room for free, using a crude form of geothermic application. Back then, only bars and grocery stores had AC.

The co-worker related that he had done a similar thing in his previous garage. He hooked up a common household water heater and routed lines up to an overhead radiator with a fan behind it. He claimed it warmed his garage just fine with no water pump used, but convection water circulation only. He used a natural gas heater and said it only cycled on occasionally once the garage was warm.

So I wonder if you could use an electric water heater as innovative supplemental heat? The reserve water capacity could easily provide heat when the solar panels fell short at night or rainy days.

I have a fast recovery, high efficiency natural gas water heater in my home that is rated for 50K btu's. That is nearly enough btu's to heat my home in North Dakota winters, and I believe the btu rating translates. A btu is a btu. Another thought is that super-insulated homes only need about 20K btu for heat, even in super cold climates. What is the rating for your oil burner and do they downrate btu rating in newer high efficiency models for the same service, like in forced air furnaces? The older burner is likely rated for what also goes out the chimney and this loss is less with newer boilers and zero with electric heat.

It would be possible to convert my type water heater to propane when natural gas pipeslines are not available in a community, if that's an option. A benefit here might be that propane (or gas) doesn't necessarily require electrical power, if water will circulate satisfactorily by convection. Such home heating becomes self contained during electrical outages.

I think electric water heaters are usually rated less btu's than gas, but for back-up in a slightly milder climate, maybe OK. One could always double them up. Utility companies usually furnish a discount when watts are used for heat. And if used for recirculated heat-only, they would not corrode and die from minerals if distilled water were used. One other benefit, water heaters are often competitively priced, while heating companies charge a premium for dedicated boilers. Heat is heat in my book.

Food for thought.

Wes

...

When I was a kid, I remember water, radiator and fan coolers being called "Swamp Coolers." Don't know why.

[flipper35]

A geothermal heat pump should work to circulate the water for you. Ours is a forced air unit but it also heats the water in our hot water heater and it stays at a steamy 131 degrees when we are heating or cooling with the unit (It has a safety to keep it from getting any warmer than that). It has worked well for our weather here in WI.

[bomelia]

Originally Posted by Dan40

When I was a kid, I remember water, radiator and fan coolers being called "Swamp Coolers." Don't know why.

I am not exactly sure why they call them that since they are used in areas where swamps don't exist. Very low humidity is required. You see them in Arizona. The idea is to spray water onto some kind of heat transfer unit (radiator?) that has the thermal transport medium inside of it. Water evaporation removes heat from the system making the the thermal tranport medium cooler. That medium is pumped inside to another radiator where air is blown through it to cool the air... and so on. I hear they get quite nasty after a while (algea, etc). Maybe thats why they call them swamp coolers. You can recognize them because folks put them on top of their houses and they look like big boxes on stilts.

The key is very low humidity environments which allows you to take advantage of the energy consumed (from the transport medium) during evaporation.

Mike