Jan. 13, 2025
Boilers and water heaters are important to the heating and water supply operations of the home. While they provide different services to the house&#;one for space heating, the other for domestic water usage&#;there is some slight overlap in the form of combined boiler/heater devices.
A boiler is part of a type of residential space heating device that performs the same functions as other home heating devices like HVAC systems, modulating furnaces, in-wall heaters, baseboard heaters, or any other system or device that heats space.
Oil, natural gas, propane, or electricity is the energy source that heats water to near-boiling (145 to 190°F) in a large sealed tank. A circulating pump pushes the hot water through a network of pipes in a loop throughout the house. Some types of boilers push steam through the pipes.
Radiators are termination points or waypoints along the hot water loop. With either, the water cycles back to be heated in the boiler again, where the process starts all over.
On a residential level, boilers are used for just one thing: producing steam or hot water for radiant heaters.
A water heater is a device that heats cold water to a specified temperature for domestic water use.
Cold water enters the water heater from the top and is deposited toward the bottom of the sealed tank with a dip tube. The water is heated by coils with electric models or by a gas flame with gas models, or, in some cases, water to water (commonly known as heat exchangers).
Hot water leaves the water heater from the top. The hot water is delivered to various parts of the house through 1/2-inch pipes, usually PEX or copper.
A water heater heats water for:
Though they do different things, boilers and water heaters share a few similarities:
Boilers and water heaters are more different than they are similar:
The efficiency of a water heater or boiler depends on the type of unit and how it is being used. Water heaters are much more energy-efficient than boilers, and tankless water heaters are even more efficient and sustainable than those with tanks. Heat pump water heaters are said to be two to three times more energy efficient than the average water heater.
However, this doesn't mean that boilers aren't efficient. Boilers are more energy-efficient than a traditional furnace. High-efficiency models are not only more expensive to install, but they come with higher repair costs as well.
&#;Installing a new boiler can be extremely expensive compared to the installation of a water heater. On average, a boiler installation costs $5,800 (Expect $3,000 to $6,000 for a standard model and between $6,000 to $11,000 for a high-efficiency model.) While some installation costs hover around $1,000 to $2,500 on average, others can reach up to $5,000.
On the other hand, water heaters are significantly less expensive. A new water heater costs $1,200 on average, including installation. Tankless heater options cost $1,000 to $3,000 and high-efficiency heaters can cost $700 to $3,000 with installation ranging from $150 to $1,500.
Water heaters are significantly easier to maintain compared to boilers. While both types need to be inspected every 6 months to a year, a water heater check-up can be done on your own simply by checking for leaks, testing the water valve, and draining the tank to remove sediments. You can also purchase a water testing kit to check the quality of the water.
Boilers require more maintenance and are more expensive to repair and replace. In addition to an annual inspection of your boiler, vents, and wiring, you should lubricate the circulating pumps, flush, and clean your boiler every 6 months. A monthly safety valve check will also help to assess performance.
The average lifespan of a boiler is much longer compared to that of a water tank. When properly maintained, boilers can last up to 25 years or more, whereas water heaters only last from 6 to 10 years. Water heaters are also more likely to have a warranty compared to boilers.
Boilers heat water for space heating. Water heaters heat domestic water. These two separate systems do the same thing: heat water.
This redundancy means wasted energy. Plus, having two separate large devices uses more room in the basement, garage, or utility room. Can the two be combined?
While not common, sometimes the boiler and water heater are combined either with combination boiler water heaters or with indirect water heaters used with boilers.
High-efficiency combination (or combi) boilers serve both functions: space heater and water heater.
Domestic water is always prioritized with combi heaters. So, when a tap is opened in the house, water flows through the heat exchanger. When hot water is needed for space heating, the water is diverted to a separate continuous heating loop for the radiators.
As single, compact units, combi heaters save a considerable amount of space over a separate boiler and water heater setup.
An indirect water heater has no direct power source like a flame or electric coil. Instead, the water is heated indirectly, using the boiler's heat.
A pipe from the boiler bearing hot water enters the bottom of the indirect water heater. The pipe coils in loops inside the water heater tank and then leaves the water heater to be redeposited in the boiler.
Some homeowners may be unclear on the difference between a boiler and a water heater. There is some crossover in the function boilers and water heaters perform, but these two appliances are not the same. Both appliances heat the water you and your family use, but boilers also provide heat for your home, while water heaters do not.
We&#;ll explain the difference in more detail and discuss both of these home appliances so you understand what&#;s working behind the scenes to heat your water or, in the case of boilers, to heat your water and your home.
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Let&#;s start by explaining what a boiler is and the purpose it serves. A boiler provides both hot water and heating for a commercial building or residential home. Focusing on the residential side, that means when you have a boiler, the hot water for your shower, your dishwasher, washing machine and more come from the same source that provides heat for your whole home.
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That brings us to one of the major differences between a boiler and a water heater. With a water heater, you would need another means of heating your home, such as a furnace. A boiler not only heats water for use in appliances and showers throughout your home, but uses hot water to warm up your home whenever you turn on the heat during cold months.
Typically, the heat comes through either baseboard radiators or radiant floor systems. Though the name &#;boiler&#; suggests the water is boiling, most residential boilers do not get the water this hot.
Let&#;s take a look at some different types of boilers you&#;ll see on the market today.
If you&#;re shopping for boilers, you may see a distinction between high-pressure and low-pressure units. There&#;s no need to make a decision here, however, if you&#;re choosing a boiler for your home. When it comes to residential heating applications, low-pressure units are standard. High-pressure units, which exceed 160 psig for water, are more common in commercial applications and require frequent monitoring, since they can cause safety issues.
A standard boiler setup in a home will include a tank to store cold water and a cylinder for hot water. This setup has a pretty sizeable footprint, but it works well for large homes or households that use a lot of hot water, especially simultaneously.
Another option to consider is a combination boiler, commonly referred to as a &#;combi-boiler.&#; This type of boiler heats your home in the same way as a standard boiler, but rather than storing hot water for you to access through your home&#;s faucets and appliances, it heats water on demand when you need it. Eliminating the storage tanks means these boilers take up less space. You can think of combi-boilers as a similar option to tankless water heaters, which we&#;ll discuss more below. The difference is that, since they are boilers, they also heat your home.
We&#;ve talked about boilers and how they work, so let&#;s turn our attention now to water heaters. Water heaters, like boilers, provide hot water for use throughout your home, whenever you want to take a shower, wash your hands or run the dishwasher. Unlike boilers, this is the sole purpose of a water heater. Water heaters don&#;t play a role in heating your home.
Households that use water heaters instead of boilers have another means of heating the home. For most households in North America, this means is a furnace, though heat pumps are also common. Furnaces come in a variety of types and get their power from natural gas, electricity or fuel oil. Regardless of the fuel used, a furnace blows heated air through your home&#;s air ducts, and the warm air enters the rooms of your home through registers or grilles in a forced-air system.
When you have a furnace or another means of heating your home, you can depend on a water heater to provide hot water for your household. You&#;ll see two main types of water heaters on the market today &#; conventional storage water heaters, also called tank heaters, and on-demand, or tankless, models.
Standard water heaters are the most popular type of water heating system in homes. They include a tank that heats water and keeps it hot at all times, holding anywhere from 20 to 80 gallons. When you turn on your sink or shower, the hot water flows from your water heater, which typically lives in the basement, garage or a utility closet somewhere in your home, through the plumbing pipes to your faucet.
As hot water leaves the tank, it will begin to refill with cold water at the bottom. For many households, this system is sufficient to supply hot water whenever necessary. Some families, however, may occasionally use up the hot water at a faster rate than the tank can heat more. When this happens, you can temporarily exhaust your supply of hot water.
This phenomenon tends to occur when multiple people in the household are placing simultaneous demands on hot water. If you&#;ve ever been taking a shower while someone else was washing dishes or showering in another bathroom and noticed the water going from pleasantly hot to frigidly cold, you&#;ve experienced this limitation firsthand.
Tankless, or on-demand, water heaters do not store hot water in a tank. Instead, they only heat water when you turn on a fixture or faucet that calls for it. Cold water runs through the tankless system, which takes up a fraction of the space of a standard tank model, and quickly gets heated as it passes through.
Because tankless water heaters heat water only on an as-needed basis, they tend to be more energy-efficient. They also can keep up with hot water demands more effectively in some cases. However, with an output between two and five gallons per minute, tankless water heaters have some limitations in how much hot water they can simultaneously provide.
Point-of-use units are a variation on tankless water heaters. Rather than one powerful unit that heats water for the whole house, point-of-use units are throughout a home, installed close to sinks or showers, so each unit can focus exclusively on providing instantaneous, uninterrupted supplies of hot water to those areas.
Besides looking at the ways boilers and water heaters compare in terms of what they do, we can also compare a few different aspects of these appliances, including their energy efficiency, installation cost, typical lifespan and required maintenance.
One thing some homeowners may want to know is whether a boiler or water heater is more efficient. To answer this question, let&#;s first look at where boilers and water heaters get their power. There are a variety of fuel sources for boilers, including natural gas, propane, heating oil and alternative fuel options. Typically, water heaters rely on electricity, natural gas or propane, though some models can run on solar power.
It&#;s challenging to make a direct comparison between boilers and water heaters when it comes to efficiency, since efficiency varies from model to model in both cases. Typically, manufacturers measure the efficiency of boilers in terms of annual fuel use efficiency, which tells you how much of the energy a boiler uses translates directly into heat. The standard measurement for the efficiency of water heaters is their energy factor, which tells you how much hot water the unit produces per unit of fuel consumed in a typical day.
It&#;s also significant to note that, with a water heater, you need another system for heating your home. If you&#;re concerned about directly comparing the amount of energy you would use in the case of a boiler vs. a water heater, you need to consider the additional energy consumed by a furnace or whatever heating system your home uses.
Some homeowners also want to know, &#;Is a water heater or boiler cheaper to install?&#; The cost to install either of these systems depends on several factors, but generally, a boiler installation is a more significant investment. When we factor in the price of the unit itself as well as the labor to install it, a new boiler tends to cost somewhere in the range of $3,500 to $8,000.
When it comes to water heaters, installation costs, including the unit and the labor to install it, tends to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $3,500. Tankless water heater installations can cost more than other water heater options.
Some homeowners wonder whether they can save some money by purchasing the unit they want and handling the installation themselves. Whether you&#;re installing a boiler or a water heater, you should hire HVAC professionals to handle the installation. In some cases, you could void your warranty by trying to install your boiler or water heater yourself. When you hire licensed professionals to handle the job, you can rest assured they will set up the unit safely and according to state and local building codes.
When it comes to lifespan, boilers and water heaters are similar. Traditional gas boilers, as well as standard water heaters, tend to last 10 to 15 years.
If lifespan is your primary concern, you&#;ll want to choose a high-quality boiler or water heater and maintain it well. In addition to performing DIY maintenance tasks, have your boiler or water heater professionally serviced whenever necessary. Another thing to note for homeowners who are especially concerned with longevity is that tankless water heaters often have a longer lifespan. They tend to last upwards of 20 years if properly maintained. They can last an exceptionally long time, in part, because they consist of easily replaceable parts.
You don&#;t always need to wait until a water heater or boiler stops working to replace it. In some cases, you&#;ll want to replace your water heater or boiler even if it&#;s still functioning after a long time because better, more energy-efficient models are available.
Let&#;s take a moment to look at what maintenance tasks you&#;ll need to take care of with a boiler and with a water heater. Both these systems will require some maintenance, though water heaters tend to be a little lower-maintenance in comparison.
To maximize the life of a boiler, you&#;ll need to:
For water heaters, particularly ones with tanks, you&#;ll periodically need to:
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If you live in the Central PA area and are looking to have a boiler or water heater installed, or if you need some professional maintenance performed on your current heating system, Home Climates can help. We&#;ll handle your heating system installation with the impressive level of skill and care our clients have come to expect from our team of technicians. We can even handle more complicated installs, such as a conversion from oil to gas.
Are you interested in learning more about Hot Water Boiler System? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
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