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Many people are familiar with indirect water heaters because they have been around since 1970, but even up to this time, they don’t know how these indirect water heaters work. As the name implies, they get “indirect” heating from your boiler. These water heaters are connected to your boiler through piping, and provide hot water from the boiler to a heat exchanger in the water heater. The coils of the heat exchanger heat the water for your domestic use. If you have any kind of boiler to heat your home, whether oil-fired or gas-fired, you can install indirect water heaters.

How indirect water heaters benefit your home:

• Higher efficiency – Here, the water gets the same heating efficiency as your boiler.
• Higher performance – The high performance of your indirect water heater is attributed to the boiler that it’s connected to.
• Longer life – Most manufacturers of these indirect water heaters offer a lifetime tank warranty. This is because they are made from stainless steel, and their tanks are properly maintained and not abused unlike in the case of a direct-fired gas water heater.
• Reduces heat loss – This equipment is well insulated and does not lose too much heat when not in use. On the other hand, a gas water heater loses energy up the chimney.
• Hot water storage – In this system, you can store hot water in high volume usage when you need it.

One thing great about indirect water heaters is that your boiler doesn’t need to run at all times. The boiler only runs when you need hot water; other than that, it keeps waiting up to the time you need it to operate. When it runs, it can produce hot water at a higher efficiency than an ordinary water heater.

Do you believe that the boiler will run all summer?

It’s a myth that goes back from the old days of having tankless coils found in older boilers. Since they didn’t have storage capacity, the boiler had to keep running all the time to have hot water for the home when needed. In this old type of unit, you waste more energy, and your utility bill increases.

Keep in mind that you should spare this one from performing a DIY job because only an expert can do it perfectly. If you want to save, look for a company that offers flat rate on materials and labor.