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What type of water heater ?

S

sparkey

Active member
I am in need of a water heater for my wash. I have a lochenvar knight boiler that you can buy a hot water tank option for, or maybe I need a tankless water heater? What type should I get? Which would be more efficient? I am just looking to heat presoak and maybe wax.
 
sparkey said:
I am in need of a water heater for my wash. I have a lochenvar knight boiler that you can buy a hot water tank option for, or maybe I need a tankless water heater? What type should I get? Which would be more efficient? I am just looking to heat presoak and maybe wax.
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Sparkey, a little more information would be helpful. Are you using your boiler for floor heat only? Are you heating any water now? We use both a on demand type water heaters or a 199K BTU tank type heaters, depending on which car wash.
 
I just bought a lochinvar boiler for floor heat, and was considering an
indirect water heater for all the car wash hot water. That would give you an
efficiency of 96% if it is a newer boiler. Chris from carwash boilers could
help you size it. The indirect heater has a closed loop thru the water heater,
 
Randy said:
Sparkey, a little more information would be helpful. Are you using your boiler for floor heat only? Are you heating any water now? We use both a on demand type water heaters or a 199K BTU tank type heaters, depending on which car wash.
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I am currently not heating any water at my wash. The boiler I have is for floor heat only, but does have the capacity for water heat if I decide to go that route. I know the lochenvar knight boiler is very effiecient at heating the floor but am not sure if you loose efficiency by heating water. It seems the heat exchanger method the lochenvar boiler uses for heating water wouldn't be that effieienct but I may be wrong.
 
I have the lochinvar knight with the hot water option. It works great!! Before I had my auto I didn't heat any water and had old raypak for the floor. Now I heat all water and floors with the lochinvar. Gas bills are half of what the used to be. PM me if you have any questions.
 
We have a Lockinvar Boiler and are having problems with it. Apparently by spec it's supposed to run at 140+ degrees or else you have rust issues (which we're having) My service tech told us we should run around 120 degrees, any higher and everything in the equipment room starts leaking. I'm a little peeved at the company that did the installation if this is true.

So now we too are looking at replacing our boiler soon.
 
Out here in the Central Valley of California (snow every 20 years), but we have seen 17 degrees which is cold for us! Anyway we use Grainger's water heater at all location 199,000 btu. Have had them for years with no problems. We only use them for the wash cycle and that's it. Everything else is cold water.
 
In terms of efficiency, I would say go for tankless water heater as the heating function only turns on whenever you need heated water earning it the title of 'on-demand' type water heater. In comparison to a heater with tank storage which will constantly fill the tank with water and heat it to maintain a certain temperature, it would have to keep working constantly every time the stored water cools down from the desired temperature.

As far as lifespan of these water heaters are concerned, tankless water systems would also last longer based on what I learned from here. Also, something worth noting is the importance of adding water softeners installed to extend the lifespan of your heaters if you have hard water as the high concentration of minerals would build up residue from chemical reactions which may shorten your heater's lifespan.
 
The only function at my car wash that used Hot water was the high pressure soap function. After watching customers use the high pressure soap just long enough for the water to get warm, not hot before they switch to another function. So we turned off the on demand hot water heaters, funny thing happened, not one customer complaint and business has been the excellent. So why have hot water?
 
Randy said:
The only function at my car wash that used Hot water was the high pressure soap function. After watching customers use the high pressure soap just long enough for the water to get warm, not hot before they switch to another function. So we turned off the on demand hot water heaters, funny thing happened, not one customer complaint and business has been the excellent. So why have hot water?
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How icy cold the inlet tap water from the specific car wash's location might be a consideration.
 
mjwalsh said:
How icy cold the inlet tap water from the specific car wash's location might be a consideration.
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I would think everyone's cold water would be around the same temp being it comes from the ground. The tanks in the equipment room would be the only variable and its pretty safe to say everyone keeps their equipment room temperature above freezing.
 
sparkey said:
I would think everyone's cold water would be around the same temp being it comes from the ground. The tanks in the equipment room would be the only variable and its pretty safe to say everyone keeps their equipment room temperature above freezing.
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The temp of ground water varies based on latitude.

I heat my SS wash water year round to "bath tub warm"- around 100 degrees. Its warm enough to enhance cleaning and the customer notice but not so hot as to melt grease off crap.

I still like the old school 199K BTU 100 gal water heaters- The simplicity and relative low cost (compared to multiple on demands)is nice.
 
sparkey said:
I would think everyone's cold water would be around the same temp being it comes from the ground. The tanks in the equipment room would be the only variable and its pretty safe to say everyone keeps their equipment room temperature above freezing.
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No, incoming water temperature varies greatly by geography. I was recently inquiring about one for my home and the plumbers comment was not a good idea with Lake Michigan water. Thinking he was referring to hardness I said Lake Michigan has great water. He then explained and I realized he was talking about these heaters working on the "Rise" . Lake Michigan water is cold in the inter. Sometimes water lines even freeze and break underground. Still, I have a demand heater at a tunnel - recently replaced a Tank type and I am happy.
 
Another variable for specific city & town incoming water is the time of year if you delve a bit deeper. I don't have the charts in front of me right now but since we have cooled our dog wash & laundromat air temperatures via modified heat exchangers during our cooling season (over 10 years successfully done) from all our softened water ... I did notice on charts that some months' incoming water temps are less cool than others.
 
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