My house, built in 1956, needs a new heating system boiler. It's as old as the house.
I've seen some models that have domestic hot water (DHW) capability - are these worth getting? It seems to be a waste to turn on a boiler rated
50,000-250,000 BTU for hot water in the dishwasher.
A waste compared to what? How is you current DHW being produced? During cold weather a domestic coil is probably more efficient than a separate DHW system
There are boilers with the so called summer/winter setup for hot water. They make a lot of water fast, but they are not always the most efficient when not in heating season. Newer high efficiency models don't do that and instead have a separate water heater.
Shop around and talk to a couple of different dealers and installers.
I set up a hybrid. My tankless coil in the boiler was being out paced by the kids showers once they got into their teens. I had an electric HWH installed in series with it. During heating months, my boiler preheats the water going into the electric heater. In the summer, no gain. As an aside at installation, I had the plumbing for the HWH done so that I cn also cut it out of the system, and revert to the boiler only. The boiler runs on 120V, the heater on 220. My generator can carry the former , but not the latter. So, when a storm like Hanah disrupts my power, as it did, I can simply cut the 220 off, cut the heater out of the system, turn on the boiler and take a shower. Really appreciated when one comes in from sorting out the downed tree, powerline, cable line, POTS line mess. BTW, in case you hadn't thought about it, if your POTS line/DSL line is ever parted, you can simply spice in a length of outside telephone line to replace to connect, tape it up and leave it lying on the ground until the phone company gets around to repairing it. Did that too, and it will last until VZ gets their line to the house back up on the house/pole.
Be smart and use two separate systemsmany moons ago they had system combine when they use the coal. I don't know if they make those this days. Tony
By a 30-year-old 45,000 BTU Bradford-White gas-fired tank.
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