Water Heater Question

[IAFishhawk]

I recently installed hot water baseboard heat in my basement. I am using a water heater as my heat source rather than a boiler because my supply lines are pex tubing rated at 180 max temp and I did not want to exceed that. My question is...I was told the water heater would heat to 160 degrees with the t-stat set to very hot, however I am only getting 120 at this setting, It is a Richmond Gas Power Vent does it need a different controller or can it be changed to heat to 160? the manual is not very clear on this at all!

[pureinsanity]

when is the last time you cleaned your water heater?

[IAFishhawk]

Its brand new just installed last weekend, thinking the thermostat is bad, but I'm not sure.

[pureinsanity]

Most heaters I've seen actually have a thermostat with the temp setting. Your thermostat dial just says hot? hotter? very hot?

[FishLocker]

Your manual should tell you what approx temps each setting should attain. 120 is usually the target temp not the high temp.

Mine has V(for vacation) L(for low), A, B, C, D, E settings and A is circled (target or where to start) which the manual says is 120 and each letter is supposed to be 10 degrees hotter.

If your manual says high is 160 then you have a thermostat problem.

[LightningBG]

I've never seen a water heater with the temp listed in degrees.

Who is it that designed this contraption for you? A water heater to supply baseboard radiators?

[pureinsanity]

I've never seen a water heater with the temp listed in degrees.

it was a small unit in an apartment complex. they didn't like anyone messing with it. but this particular one did in fact say it. the unit was junk you could crank it all the way up and it wouldn't get any hotter.

[PurpleFloyd]

It's not uncommon to use a water heater to run radiant heat. We have a hot water heater running the radiant heat tubing that keeps the snow and ice off of the sidewalk in front of our fire department. The heater acts as the heat source and all you have to do is add the thermostat and a pump.

That being said I heated my shop for years with a munchkin boiler and ran the water through pex tubing and there was never an issue. Actually I initially had a corn burning boiler using the same lines and that put out a ton of BTU's and there was never any problems with the tubing handling the heat and i am certain it got over 180. Just a fyi.