On 11/13/2015 7:49 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
> "S Viemeister" > wrote
>> On 11/13/2015 10:36 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
>>> "Ophelia" > wrote in message
>>>> I have a combi boiler which serves the whole house for hot water and
>>>> heating. The water for all that is as hot as you want it to be. You
>>>> set the temp yourself.
>>>> There is no water tank to heat up, it heats the water on demand.
>>> I don't think we have anything of the sort in this country
>> Here's a California company which handles combi boilers -
>> <http://wholehousecombi.com/>
>> There are a number of others.
>
> I see it but it's all rather meaningless to me. Never heard of such a
> thing in a house here. Heat in most houses is either gas or electric.
> And I don't really know what a boiler is.

You might call it a 'furnace'. Neither term is really accurate.

A 'boiler' heats water, which is then circulated through radiators to
heat the house.

A combi boiler (which can run on gas, electricity, or oil)has an
additional circuit, which heats water for your taps/faucets. It doesn't
store hot water in a big tank - it heats on demand. When you open a tap,
the flow of water triggers the combi to heat the water. When you turn
off the tap, it stops heating it.
They may not be common in the US yet, but their use is increasing.
We switched to a combi in our house in Scotland, and have considerably
reduced our fuel costs. We've also gained storage space, as we no longer
need the big hot water tank/cylinder.
My combi runs on oil, as we have no gas main available.