Electric Water Heater Install - Shut Down Boiler Indirect During Summer

[Skoby]

My friend has solar panels and wants to install an electric water heater so he doesn't have to run his boiler during the summer. He has a propane furnace and an indirect water heater for hot water and baseboard heating. He feels like he's wasting money on propane when his electricity is "free".

Does it make sense to install the electric water heater and shut down the boiler for the 6 months out of the year where he's not using heat? Seems reasonable to me but wanted to check with people here first.

 

[John Gayewski]

My friend has solar panels and wants to install an electric water heater so he doesn't have to run his boiler during the summer. He has a propane furnace and an indirect water heater for hot water and baseboard heating. He feels like he's wasting money on propane when his electricity is "free".

Does it make sense to install the electric water heater and shut down the boiler for the 6 months out of the year where he's not using heat? Seems reasonable to me but wanted to check with people here first.

Yeah. Everyone in here shuts their furnace down in the summer. He won't get as much hot water as fast but you also don't use as much hot water in the summer.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Skoby]

Yeah. Everyone in here shuts their furnace down in the summer. He won't get as much hot water as fast but you also don't use as much hot water in the summer.

I assumed this to be true but was unable to find a simple answer through web search. Thank you for the response

 

[Fitter30]

Makes sense could pipe it as a pre heater that if it can't keep up the combi would kick in and there would be no chance of anything growing in the combi from non use.

 

[Reach4]

Net Metering Guide

www.mass.gov

Most people with solar panels in MA will feed their power to the utility. They appear to use "net metering, which is unfair to the utility, but is a boon to the homeowner. So that the solar panels would not directly supply power to the WH.

For an electric WH, consider a "hybrid" WH. More power-efficient, and they will cool and dehumidify the space. They can be considered more than 300% efficient compared to standard resistance water heaters at 100%.

More expensive. Probably less reliable, in that they have more parts.