Quote:
Originally Posted by bcrdukes
Could you shed more light or elaborate on this, please? The townhouse I'm moving to has a hydronic system, and based on the home inspection, and a few quotes from HVAC contractors, they all said the hydronic heating system at the place would be good for AT LEAST another 7 - 10 years. The hot water tank is a rental, but I did think of replacing the rental unit with my own Rinnai RU160iN tankless system.
If it's going to fuck up my furnace, I'll stick to a hot water tank.  |
It doesn't really make a difference if it's a tank or tankless.
Is your hydronic system supplied with potable water or is there a water-to-water heat exchanger that transfers heat from the hot water tank to a separate loop for the hydronic heating?
If you're using potable domestic water from your hot water tank or tankless water heater through your coils, that water is going to have a pH around 7 (hopefully not below 7), lots of dissolved oxygen, other chemicals (e.g. chlorine, fluoride, etc.) which can cause damage to parts if they're not designed for it (which hopefully everything is). There's the potential for corrosion, but there's also scale buildup, sediment buildup, and biological growth that will also come with untreated water. This will generally be worst where water stagnates or has low flow (like the inside of your heating coils). When your coil starts to get fouled with these things, it reduces efficiency and performance and can eventually plug it completely.