jcsjr
New Member
What about......
going with something geothermal based?
Similar to the idea of a heat pump except you sink pipes in the ground that circulate a glycol solution.
They use a heat exchanger to 'draw' the heat off (as you would in a typical installation) or I know you can also use geothermal to secondarily heat water in a water heater. This second application is useful in the summer months when you are drawing excess heat out of the building.
In your case, you don't need it to be drawing excess heat. Instead, it can serve to heat your water in the water heater rather then heating it with electricity. The only power the units use is to drive a circulation pump and a fan (although I don't know if the fan is necessary for the water heater options.....) That could easily be offset with solar, depending on where you are in Canada. Even without, the cost of this amount of electricity is very minor.
Just another direction.
going with something geothermal based?
Similar to the idea of a heat pump except you sink pipes in the ground that circulate a glycol solution.
They use a heat exchanger to 'draw' the heat off (as you would in a typical installation) or I know you can also use geothermal to secondarily heat water in a water heater. This second application is useful in the summer months when you are drawing excess heat out of the building.
In your case, you don't need it to be drawing excess heat. Instead, it can serve to heat your water in the water heater rather then heating it with electricity. The only power the units use is to drive a circulation pump and a fan (although I don't know if the fan is necessary for the water heater options.....) That could easily be offset with solar, depending on where you are in Canada. Even without, the cost of this amount of electricity is very minor.
Just another direction.
