The Boiler

There it is…well, was. This boiler supplied my hot water as well as heat for the radiant floor. However, I only got about a month until it needed to be removed. I knew it was on borrowed time when buying the home, but, rolled the dice hoping to get through one winter. December 12, 2012 was not only the end of the Mayan calendar, it was also the end of my heat and hot water.

For hot water, I installed a temporary 40 gallon electric water heater out in the garage, and another amazing friend helped me with the new copper line needed. (yeah, pex existed, but, I’m dumb and wanted to overcomplicate the crap out of this)

I heated the house with space heaters for a few weeks before deciding to go with an electric heat pump. A heat pump struggles in the winter time when the temperature gets below 30 degrees fahrenheit, so, there’s a superheated coil to supplement the hot air.(also called auxiliary heat, this is expensive) which also added air conditioning to the house.

Tankless Electric water heaters, can they keep up? Yes, yes they can. This takes a little extra space in the electric panel, but, once it’s mounted and plumbed, it’s amazing. My only regret with this is that I ran a .5” pex line vs a .75” one. So, a nice hot shower can have an unpleasant surprise sometimes if the kitchen faucet is turned on.