On Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:01:36 -0400, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

> On Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:49:09 -0700, sf > wrote:
>
>
>
> >> >
> >> > I think yours is like mine - central heating and hot water - a combi
> >> > boiler?
> >>
> >> Yes it is. Is that not usual in US?
> >>
> >I've heard of a central furnace combined with an air-conditioner, but
> >never one that serves as a water heater too.
>
> Right.
> Furnaces heat air, boilers heat water. The terms are often used
> incorrectly.

YES! I know old public buildings and some super old apartment
buildings (and those converted to condos) still operate with a boiler
system - but come on... single family HOUSES? The only "modern"
heating water source I know about is fed by the water heater, not a
boiler (mid-century modern Eichler houses and modern bathrooms with a
floor heating system in the floor). Define the parameters if it's not
a single family house, which is what I think most of the people here
were talking about in generalized terms. I don't know enough about a
whole building boiler systems to know if hot water from a faucet comes
from the same place that provides heat to the buildings or not. What
I do know is that boiler systems are not commonly used in single
family housing here... like Aga stoves, they are out of the ordinary.
>
> I've never seen a furnace with domestic hot water, but boilers that
> both heat the house and heat the domestic water are very common.

Thanks! Maybe that's the case in old buildings public building or old
multi-story buildings with multiple apartments (or condo converts).
My house was built in the '20s and it has never had a boiler system.
It started off with a coal furnace. My grandparents centennial
farmhouse in rural Michigan (built in the early 1800s) didn't have a
boiler system either - it was another coal furnace and they heated
water on top of their wood burning stove.

> Probably 90% of oil boiler are made that way, at leas until a dozen
> years ago when better systems were introduced.

No idea what that would be.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.