need info on heating/hot water system please

[donaldcarter55]

Hello eveyone, I havent posted in a while, some of you may remember me from previous posts. Well, we made it to Maine! Moved from Florida and BAM! got hit with snow the first week we were here! So much for the mild maine winters last few years! LOL!! I love it!

Can someone help me understand how my heating system works? I have a forced hot water oil burning heating system. It also heats the hot water for the faucets. It uses a normal thermostat on the wall to control the home heating, but i dont understand how it keeps the water hot for the faucets when the heat is not on. We are running out of hot water pretty fast, so I have to turn the thermostat up so that the furnace kicks on, then along with the house geting warmer, I get some more hot water. It does have a hot water storage tank, not very large, but I dont see any sensors or switches that control the furnace for just the hot water. How will we get hot water in the summer months? I must be missing something.... any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!!

[madurolover]

I know nothing about hot water heaters except that I like them.
I am moving this to Anything But Cigars - General discussion.

[madurolover]

Also you may want to introduce yourself in the New Puffer fish forum.

[hangnail]

Originally Posted by donaldcarter55

Hello eveyone, I havent posted in a while, some of you may remember me from previous posts. Well, we made it to Maine! Moved from Florida and BAM! got hit with snow the first week we were here! So much for the mild maine winters last few years! LOL!! I love it!

Can someone help me understand how my heating system works? I have a forced hot water oil burning heating system. It also heats the hot water for the faucets. It uses a normal thermostat on the wall to control the home heating, but i dont understand how it keeps the water hot for the faucets when the heat is not on. We are running out of hot water pretty fast, so I have to turn the thermostat up so that the furnace kicks on, then along with the house geting warmer, I get some more hot water. It does have a hot water storage tank, not very large, but I dont see any sensors or switches that control the furnace for just the hot water. How will we get hot water in the summer months? I must be missing something.... any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!!

sounds like what i had. I had a oil furnace, but no additional storage, and I have steam. If i wanted a shower, i would need to bump the heat so i could have a hot shower. we just replaced the furnace and added a hot water tank.

our set up has the hot water tank as a second zone. The furance is set at 170* and the hot water tank is about 128*-132* somewhere around there. when the temps on the tank drop, it circulates through the furnace, and then the furnace fires up if needed.

Sooo, i would suggest you check to see if there is a temp control on the furnace and on the storage tank. if you do, play around with the tank temp and bump it up a bit. I'm no expert, or do i even really know what I am talking about, but i went through a 580 dollar a month budget oil bill ( bill balanced over 12 months ) to around 3-4 tanks of oil a year. ya, I'm saving some dough, the wood stove I added helps too