The Ultimate Hybred

Who says hot water can’t be stylish? Meet the Quattro.

The facts are right there, in red and white. The Radiant Quattro hybrid condensing water heater combines the efficiency of tankless with the convenience of a storage tank — producing endless hot water, ready when you want it.

Quattro installations are both simple and cost effective with 2” PVC venting capabilities of up to 100’ and top-mounted connections. Add in industry leading performance — even in hard water conditions — reliability, along with a stylish Ferrari Red cabinet with immediate availability, and you will wonder why you ever used anything else. At Radiant, hot water is always in style.

Passion. Style.

have been able to put a solar thermal DHW package in every home we have owned for over 30 years now. A single panel has provided a preheat solar tank adequate for the two or three of us. In summer months I can get by on just solar thermal DHW for weeks and sometimes months.

It is a fairly simple system to add if you have the pipe fitting and basic wiring skills. You can make it happen with copper tube in an aluminum frame on the roof or in the yard, a pump, controller, heat exchanger and indirect tank. Many of my past systems have been accumulated from scratch and dent, or were used components off the online swap lists. If you have the skills to combine and install the parts, and are willing to shop the product, the payback works out. Showers feel better with solar heated DHW. While the Feed-in Tariffs (FITS) have been going down in my area, I still went with a 6200W PV installation on my roof. At this point in my life the payback may not pencil out, but I feel I have a small amount of energy independence with the system. My inverter allows me to get about 2Kw direct from the array if the grid goes down. Battery backup could be an option down the road for a bit more power outage protection. Judging by some of my social media contractor job site pics the generator market seems to be up. This tends to be an expensive way to provide electricity. But in some people’s minds being able to weather a week’s worth of power outage makes them comfortable.

Now, let’s talk about keeping the heat on. I still have a small wood stove that was a wedding present almost 40 years ago. It has moved from at least five locations now. I haven’t found a simpler way to heat a small space and do some cooking than a wood stove. It is very low tech, can be messy, but also fun to feed and regulate. My truck camper has a Cubic Mini Wood Stove built by a sailor in a shop in the Montreal, QC area (for real, check out cubicminiwoodstoves.com). So, I’m ready for the world’s end.

Suggestions For The Next Five Years

• Use the free comparison calculator at www.coalpail.com to see how your current pricing for energy compares to “what if” options. Say, for example if you currently heat with oil. Does it make sense to switch to NG if it becomes available? What about electricity? Would a heat pump be the solution to maximize a switch to electric? You can answer the financial component of an electrification question very quickly. The biggest unknown is how much the various energy sources will change, and how often. There is historical data for that also. With oil or LP there may be storage options that allow you to buy at off season prices. If you could store your heating season’s amount of fuel, that could change the calculation. I’ve found LP varies the most, and almost predictably increases during peak heating season.

• My suggestion would be a hybrid system, dual or even triple fuel. If you have hydronics, it is easier to blend multiple heat sources.

• Wood is a lifestyle choice. While on the front end it looks cheap, maybe free and easy − it’s not. Emission regulations come into play with wood and pellet burners. It is best to check into that in your area. Unless you have dead, dry wood uphill from your building, wood is heavy to process, although it can be a good workout.

• The hybrid blend I prefer is electricity and gas or LP. Both are fairly easy to wrangle and easy to combine. There are many, many equipment choices and there are a lot of folks with repair expertise for basic boilers. Heat pumps may be more of a challenge to get sized, applied, and serviced properly. It is time to get your people trained up.

• While a HPWH seems simple, a refrigerator in reverse, troubleshooting takes a different skillset when refrigeration is part of the system.

• Look for off peak electric rates and figure out how to leverage them. A location with a concrete slab may have some off peak storage options.

By Jonathon Harp