Back-up Heating Equipment
Navien condensing tankless water heater - 98% efficient!
Viessman combi-boiler including tankless water heater
Do you currently have forced air heating? Are you considering replacing the water heater in your home? Did you know that with a regular hot water tank, vented either up the chimney or out the wall (power vented), 50 cents of every dollar is going into thin air, not into your hot water?
You’re considering a solar water heater, and that’s great, but what will you use for a back up heater?
The most efficient method is the tankless water heater. Most units on the market are about 82% efficient. They are a big step up from the tank type. However, be careful about which units are suitable for use with a solar water heater. Some are designed with the assumption that the water coming into the unit is at city mains temperature (6-12C). With a solar hot water system this is not the case. A solar system can store and provide water temperatures up to 75C (although we limit this to 50C with the use of an anti-scald valve). The back up heater must be able to recognize the temperature of this hotter incoming water, and limit the amount of gas necessary to to meet the desired temperature of 50°C.
As efficiency is an important element here, we have picked the Navien tankless heater. At a published 98% efficiency, it is the most efficient unit on the market and with a stainless steel heat exchanger, it should be the longest lasting (most units have copper heat exchangers).
For those people with a boiler for home heating (floor heating, radiators etc.), we install the Viessmann Vitodens boilers. These boilers have the best efficiency and the best built heat exchanger (which is one of the most important components in the boiler). They also, in my opinion, have the fewest set up problems and they continue working efficiently for years.
