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[rclay1981]

i'm going to start building my boiler soon and just wanting some opinions on the dhw. just want to know which is better a heating element in the boiler its self or a heat exchanger and which exchanger is better a side arm or plate style.
thanks for all your help

[muffin]

i'm going to start building my boiler soon and just wanting some opinions on the dhw. just want to know which is better a heating element in the boiler its self or a heat exchanger and which exchanger is better a side arm or plate style.
thanks for all your help

I would stay with a Hx seperate.  I think it is betetr to have it a seperate entity so they are not tied together.  You also want the Hx central so you do not have to wait a long time to get your hot water.  I like the plate exchanger I have and you never have to worry about running out as it is an on demand heater.  I believe the sidearms will run out, but only after a ton of hot water.

[HandyMark]

I like the idea of the sidearm keeping the water hot so I never use electricity but I too bought a plate exchanger mainly for the simplicity of the install. My brother in law uses a Taylor OWB which has a coil in the boiler for DWH. I never could understand the logic of heating the water 50 feet from the house and having to run it all out of the line before having hot water.

[tbone]

I have a coil in my OWB and use my water heater tank for storage...so I have instant hot water as soon as you turn on the faucet.  My water just gets hotter and hotter the longer you run it.  Not arguing that its a better set up than a plate exchanger...just saying, for my application that it works very well, and my OWB is 100' from my house.

[muffin]

I have a coil in my OWB and use my water heater tank for storage...so I have instant hot water as soon as you turn on the faucet.  My water just gets hotter and hotter the longer you run it.  Not arguing that its a better set up than a plate exchanger...just saying, for my application that it works very well, and my OWB is 100' from my house.

Do you keep the tank turned on?  Otherwise I would think it would cooldown when you were not using it and take forever to get hot again at the tap.

[tbone]

Nope, as long as I have fire in my stove...my hot water heater is turned off.  My set up works because my family of 5 consumes a lot of hot water which keeps the tank up to temp.  If I was putting in a new system...I would go with a plate exchanger.