On Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:24:31 -0700, sf > wrote:
>> 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).
As I said, if it heats water, the term used for the device is a
boiler. They range from smallish units for the house to large
industrial sized 100 HP units in industrial or commercial settings. If
you go to a 3000 room hotel in Las Vegas, chances are the domestic hot
water for you shower is heated by a big Cleaver Brooks boiler.
> 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.
If they are heating water, it is a boiler. Sorry, but that is the
proper term. Single family to big apartment complex, boilers heat the
water. In smaller units like the house, they do both the heating and
the domestic water.
http://www.weil-mclain.com/en/weil-mclain/pc-boilers/
You will see units that do both.
http://www.weil-mclain.com/en/weil-m...ue-gas-boiler/
•Gas fired water boiler with cast aluminum heat exchanger
•Venturi mixing body mixes air and gas providing higher efficiency
•Designed to operate in low temperature condensing applications
•Outdoor reset and domestic hot water priority standard
I don't know what is common in your town, but they are very common in
the cooler climates. Millions of residential boilers exist. Probably
80% of the homes in New England have boilers. A few still have steam.