Can an electric water heater work in tandem with an oil fired boiler with domestic water?

should the electric heater be installed before or after the domestic supply and what pecautions are necessaryCan an electric water heater work in tandem with an oil fired boiler with domestic water?
Yes it can, but you better know what you're doing.


I'm assuming you have a tankless coil in your boiler for domestic water heating or you have a heat exchanger. If you don't, forget it. You'll be mixing boiler water with potable water.





If you have a tankless coil in the boiler, go through the tankless coil first, then to the water heater - this way you have a storage tank for the hot water before it goes to the house.


A better way is to add a small circulator to circulate water from the coil to the tank so that it is kept at a constant. You use a secondary thermostat on the tank to cycle the circulatorCan an electric water heater work in tandem with an oil fired boiler with domestic water?
I do understand that you intend to use the water heater as a heat source and not solely as a storage tank, I was just explaining that piping it with the pump gives you the extra capacity pumping between the 2.


It really doesn't matter which heat source is piped in first. Report Abuse

There should be no problem with the working in tandem. Put a ';Y'; connection from the cold supply and also a ';Y'; connection from the heaters going to your home feed in. This will allow the one set hottest to feed first and will always equal out the volume temp. try and set them the same temp as possible.
Absolutely, as long as the water feeding the electric heater is cold. That would be before the domestic hot water.
You might want to make sure your heater is rated for this. In my instruction sheet it said that mine could be used in conjunction with a heating system. I would contact the manufacturer first before I did anything. Better safe then scalded!