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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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question about electric water heaters
we just moved recently and we have oil heat. in order to conserve $$ and oil, we thought about getting an electric water heater. DH took a look at it last night and it seems like the water heater is, in fact, electric - but only to "keep" the water hot - it's still heated by the oil burner. i have no experience with owning a home so sorry if that sounds dumb and/or obvious.
does anyone know how much an electric water heater would cost, or if it would be feasible to "convert" the one we have now?
TIA!
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UPDATE 7/24/08:
so i spoke with the owner of the house (we rent).
he said that we have two water heaters - we have one that's electric, and ALSO one connected to the boiler (not sure why, that's dumb).
the electric one heats the water for the lower level of the house, and one connected to the boiler heats the water for the kitchen and the upper level bathroom. this explains why when DH shut off the boiler he still got hot water (lower level bathroom) and i didn't (upper level bath).
this electric water heater was added b/c the previous renters weren't getting hot water in the lower level of the home, so instead of re-working the pipes the owner just added another water heater.
does anyone know if a plumber would be able to work it so that ALL of the water gets its supply from the electric water heater? thanks!
Message edited 7/24/2008 2:46:43 PM.
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Posted 7/21/08 11:51 AM  |
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sleepie76
enjoying every minute
Member since 12/07 3881 total posts
Name:
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Re: question about electric water heaters
ok...i'm no pro at this, but I can tell you what we are doing.
We have oil heat & an electric hot water heater. Both came with the house.
due to the crazy $ of oil, we have shut the oil off and heat the water with the electric water heater.
I see no difference in the water temp, I still have hot water whenever I want. Hoping to either convert to gas, or avoid an oil delivery for another 2 months.
FM me if I can be of any more help
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| Posted 7/21/08 5:58 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: question about electric water heaters
Posted by sleepie76
ok...i'm no pro at this, but I can tell you what we are doing.
We have oil heat & an electric hot water heater. Both came with the house.
due to the crazy $ of oil, we have shut the oil off and heat the water with the electric water heater.
I see no difference in the water temp, I still have hot water whenever I want. Hoping to either convert to gas, or avoid an oil delivery for another 2 months.
FM me if I can be of any more help
thanks... i think this is what we have going on too. DH is going to turn the boiler off tonight and see what happens.
thanks for responding!
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| Posted 7/21/08 9:46 PM |
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Katie111806
Team Pink!
Member since 12/06 5349 total posts
Name:
Katie
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Re: question about electric water heaters
LB - we have the same thing in our new house. We are actually getting our new hot water heater later this week (as long as our closing goes through tomorrow  ) and we plan to ask what our options are. We think we are going to turn off the burner in the summer as well. I'll let you know what the guy says!
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| Posted 7/21/08 9:54 PM |
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quasi3
LIF Adult
Member since 7/07 1764 total posts
Name:
Stacey
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Re: question about electric water heaters
i have oil heat and need my boiler to heat my water. I was told that my tank was only a storage tank and that I could not shut off the boiler. the water was heated by boiler than stored in the storage tank, that is why we could not turn off out boiler.
Our tank just broke, so we converted to an electric tank (about $400 at homedepot). He had to run new water lines and put in a power supply...but it was well worth it and we are saving money because our boiler is off.
hope that helps!
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| Posted 7/21/08 9:59 PM |
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GoldenRod
10 years on LIF!
Member since 11/06 26792 total posts
Name:
Shawn
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Re: question about electric water heaters
Have you looked into solar and/or on-demand water heaters?
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| Posted 7/22/08 9:09 AM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: question about electric water heaters
On a related note re: turning off oil burners.
With our recent escapades of purchasing a new oil burner, we heard from many people that you should not turn off your boiler in the summer. Turning the burner off causes the gaskets and seals to expand/shrink when there are such drastic changes in temperature. It shouldn't use much oil (they said about a gallon or two per month) just to maintain the temp, and its better for the longer life of the boiler.
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| Posted 7/22/08 10:57 AM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: question about electric water heaters
Posted by GoldenRod
Have you looked into solar and/or on-demand water heaters?
no... we are definitely interested though! do you know a lot about this?
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| Posted 7/22/08 10:57 AM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: question about electric water heaters
Posted by quasi3
i have oil heat and need my boiler to heat my water. I was told that my tank was only a storage tank and that I could not shut off the boiler. the water was heated by boiler than stored in the storage tank, that is why we could not turn off out boiler.
Our tank just broke, so we converted to an electric tank (about $400 at homedepot). He had to run new water lines and put in a power supply...but it was well worth it and we are saving money because our boiler is off.
hope that helps!
thanks, we may look into this
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| Posted 7/22/08 10:58 AM |
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GoldenRod
10 years on LIF!
Member since 11/06 26792 total posts
Name:
Shawn
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Re: question about electric water heaters
Posted by headoverheels
Posted by GoldenRod
Have you looked into solar and/or on-demand water heaters?
no... we are definitely interested though! do you know a lot about this?
Not yet. I'm definitely going to look into one or both of these for a later project. I just briefly looked around at stuff, and a few places recommend using a solar water heater for most of the hot water, with on demand heater(s) to supplement.
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| Posted 7/22/08 12:52 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: question about electric water heaters
bump for update and advice
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| Posted 7/24/08 2:46 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: question about electric water heaters
bump - anyone?
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| Posted 7/24/08 9:18 PM |
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