O/T - Baseboard Heat

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OK, I have baseboard heat in my house. I know a few other people that have it and they tell me that they never run out of hot water. We have always run out of hot water. My system is 20 years old so I had the HW tank replaced and had a new furnace put in. For some reason we still run out of hot water. Hell, now we run out after 1 shower or bath. Anyone have baseboard heat and run out of hot water?
 

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Your baseboard heat has nothing to do with your hot water.If you turn the heat all the way up it would still be the same.Its a seperate line.
 

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when did you have the new waterheater put in sounds like you may have an element out
 
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I had a new Boilermate hot water tank and Prestige Traingletube furnace put in on Wed. They gutted everything in my furnace room and replaced everything except the pipes that run through the house and in the floors.
 

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If you have a top inlet/outlet hot water tank, the dip tube on the cold side could be broken. It happens from time to time, and it is a cheap fix ($10?)

What kind of tank is it, gas? electric? oil?

also... is the thermostat on the tank turned up?
 
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If you have a top inlet/outlet hot water tank, the dip tube on the cold side could be broken. It happens from time to time, and it is a cheap fix ($10?)

What kind of tank is it, gas? electric? oil?

also... is the thermostat on the tank turned up?


Its gas. I have the temp set at 120. Here are a couple of pics.

100_4135.JPG


100_4136.JPG
 
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wmu how's your son doing?


Hey buddy! Thanks for asking. Will is doing awesome. He gets leg pains frequently and low blood counts, but that is about it. He has only missed one day of school this year and even though he only attended school for about a month last year he is right where he is suppose to be as far as schooling goes. He also has a full head of hair. Problem now is, he doesn't ever want to cut it.

Two more years of chemo and he can have his metaport taken out of his chest. We are counting the days down.

Thanks again for asking. You truly are one of the classiest guys on here.
 

I'll be in the Bar..With my head on the Bar
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Wow thats a helluva set up u got there. Nothing like that around here thats for sure. from the looks of all those valves u may just have the 1 heater to do the water for plumbing as well as the baseboards. Thats not a good set up if thats how it works. But anyway 1 of those ( or more ) yellow handle valves should controll the water to the baseboards. Find it and shut it off when its not needed, but you better ck with ur plumber 1st cus i guess its possible they need some amount of water flow or pressure to prevent corrosion , etc...
The theory your working with is you have a appox, 60 gal tank there from the looks of it...When u have 60 gals of HW and you turn something on and use say 10 gals, then the 10 gals is replaced by room temp water...so the other 50 is no longer as hot as the 1st 10 was and the more you use the lower the temp drops as cooler water is added to the tank.
Turning up the temp will not give you longer lasting water but will make the decline in temp a lil slower. By the way it takes 140 degree water to sanitize dishes , so anybody with a DW should have their htg set to at least 140. I suspect there is something running constantly, like your baseboards maybe that is depleting the tank and never letting the tank reach the 12o u have it set at. That shouldnt be happening..
You may have replaced all that when your original problem is a bad regulator for the baseboards or something like that....
When your dealing with electricians, plumbers, a/c people ,etc there are 2 different kinds. 1 kind who diagnose and repair the problem and the other who just change everything cus thats all they know how to do...
In this case you need the service man since you've already tried the installer route...You Gas bill should be high as hell as well if the problem i described is whats wrong...
 

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wow, that is quite the set up.

First of all, the heating loops and your domestic water supply are completly separate. If a thermostat "calls" for heat the hot water circulaes through those grundfos pumps, and through the heating elements (like baseboard heaters) when the call for heat is satisfied, the fire on the boiler turns off. At no point do you draw water from your hot water supply, its the same water circulating through the closed loops.

Second, where does the domestic hot water get its heat? I see a gas line going to the triangle tube boiler but not the blue water tank. Is there a gas line going to it, or does the heat get exchanged from the boiler pipes?

I would turn the tank up to 140 degees. It does give you more hot water.

I still cant figure out why you dont have enough hot water, but I can tell you that you are not losing hot water to your heating system.

More pictures would help, I'll come back in the morning and check again.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. Yes it is some setup I have with my heating system. I thought about having a forced air system put in instead of baseboard heat, but just couldn't do it. I had forced air in my old house and you just can't compare the two. Baseboard heat is so comfortable and constant. Out house is always warm in the winter and it isn't dry heat like forced air. I have 5 people in my house so having hot water is very important. I've decided I'm going to have a rinnai put in. My folks have one in their home and they love it and NEVER run out of hot water. I guess their pretty expensive (to buy), but are way more efficient than standard hot water tanks. I'll let you know how it goes.

http://www.rinnai.us/

Thanks again
 

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