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| Why Nyletherm-1 ? 610-476-4155 The Geyser is the latest more efficient model from Nyle Corporation |
| Being a firm supporter of energy efficiency as a first step on the path towards a sustainable future, I always suggest solar energy as the perfect choice when decision-making. But few of us live in a perfect sunny place. High efficiency fossil fuel heating appliances are better than conventional fossil fuel burners, but they burn fossil fuels, nevertheless. There are 98% efficient combustion boilers that are nearing the ultimate limit of 100%, but they can never exceed the barrier of the innate caloric content of the fuel. |
| Now consider thinking outside of the box. By utilizing electricity to drive a heat pump refrigeration appliance,heat can be gathered instead of formed by combustion. The present available heat pump technology being installed residentially has outputs which are as high as 500%, five times as efficient as what we used to consider a "perfect" 100% .Larger heat pumps like the ones located outside of homes and the less conventional geothermal heat pumps have been in residential service for decades. The HEAT PUMP WATER HEATER found its way to the market more slowly because of its expense compared to the simplicity and inexpensive mass-produced water heater. For years I had read about heat pump water heaters and called their manufacturers to try and purchase one but they were always being re-designed or waiting for enough market side demand to put them into production. In 2005 I finally was successful in actually purchasing a heat pump water heater manufactured by the Nyle Corporation located in Maine. I tested the "Nyletherm-1" at a customer's home in their basement for a year. I installed an electric meter and a water meter at the water heater. Then I recorded data: the temperatures of the cold water and hot water, the gallons of hot water used, and the Kilo watt Hours consumed in the operation of the water heater combination. On a monthly basis, I would take my measurements and record the meter readings. Utilizing the on/bypass switch on the Nyletherm-1, I collected data one month of just the electric heater alone and then the next month of the Nyletherm-1 working in tandem with the conventional electric heater. I set up a spreadsheet and calculated the kilo watt Hours consumed per BTU of hot water generated. I found that the Nyletherm-1 was able to generate 2.28 times more hot water than the resistance electric water heater for a given amount of electricity. I installed two Nyletherm-1s and a waste water heat exchanger at another customer's house. Two months later the owner faxed me a copy of his electric bill (see copy at the bottom of this web page). His statement and my amendments to the bar chart show the installation date of the Nyletherm-1s and the resultant significant reduction of the electric consumption for the following two months. Using empirical data from two oil fired boiler studies and government provided ENERGY FACTORS, I composed a WATER HEATER PERFORMANCE PREDICTOR that takes into account not only the variable costs of energy but also the consumption magnitude of the user which has a very powerful and complex relationship with the widely varied types of water heaters. OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE TO THE OWNERS OF SUMMER / WINTER IMMERSED COIL OIL-FIRED HOT WATER SYSTEMS I realized that there was no government issued ENERGY FACTOR available for "an immersed coil, summer/winter boiler system," a very popular method of heating hot water here in southeastern Pennsylvania. So I bought a fuel oil meter and hooked it up along with a water meter at another customer's house where there was an immersed coil hot water system in an oil fired boiler and learned something that no #2 fuel oil distributor would ever disclose. Given the present and stable cost of Electricity here in Philadelphia of $0.15/KwH, oil fired hot water using an immersion coil becomes more expensive to operate than the standard electric water heater when the price of heating oil exceeds $2.50/ gallon. Recent fuel oil prices had reached $5.00/gallon before they settled down to $2.20/gallon due to the 2008 financial panic. Amazed at the inefficient delivery of the generally perceived good hot water system, I went back to the original Nyletherm-1 test site and parsed the oil delivery data across the last three years and found that for the one year preceding the installation of the Nyletherm-1 electric water heater, the house consumed 0.242 gallons of fuel oil per Heating Degree Day, heating its hot water all year long in the boiler utilizing a immersion coil. After the installation of the electric/Nyletherm-1 water heater the oil boiler consumed an average of 0.176 gallons of fuel oil per Heating Degree Day because it was dedicated to heating the house only and was not left on all year long. The 25% reduction of gallons per Degree Day worked out to an annual savings of $1,180.00 at the 2007 cost of fuel oil , $3.50/gallon. The Nyletherm-1 consumed $258.00 of electricity heating their water for the year so the net savings was $922.00. The cost of the Nyletherm-1 installed with a new electric heater was $2100.00. A $300.00 tax credit was taken the following spring so the customer was out of pocket $1,800. So in two years time the investment paid for itself. The implications of this finding are clear. If you have an oil fired summer/winter immersed coil hot water heater you should consider utilizing another method of heating your water. Even a standard electric water heater would be less expensive to operate. |
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