Water Heaters
| There are two basic ways to heat domestic hot water for the home using oil; one is with a direct-fired water heater, and the other is with an indirect-fired water heater. Oil-fired water heaters produce a virtually unlimited supply of hot water because they have high recovery rates. A recovery rate is the amount of water whose temperature the unit can raise by 100 (degrees) in one hour. In a Direct Fired Hot Water Heater, a storage tank with a separate oil-fired burner that heats the water and stores it in the tank. This looks very similar to the electric hot water heater used in many homes with the addition of an oil burner. There are several ways to provide the unit with fuel, and you may use the same fuel tank that supplies your furnace or boiler. |
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| Direct fired hot water heaters are usually used with warm air furnaces, but may be installed in homes heated with a boiler or steam unit. If you are converting from an electric hot water heater, there are models that do not require a chimney but use a direct vent to supply not only fresh air for the unit, but also remove exhaust using the same venting system. An Indirect Fired hot water heater has a storage tank connected to the hot water boiler that collects the water heated in the boiler and passes through a coil which heats up the water surrounding the coil in the storage tank. The recovery rate for these units is about 140 gallons per hour. |
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