As for the latter you may want to consider getting a tankless water heater instead.
Boiler vs on demand water heater.
Instead they heat water as it passes through the unit using a heat exchanger to rapidly bring it.
Water boiler a boiler is used to heat just the water as it boils the water and turns it to steam.
Boiler vs water heater.
Hot water heater a hot water heater is used to give you domestic hot water for your appliances like dishwashers and washing machines as well as fixtures like showers and sinks.
They are either a tank or tankless style and can be gas or electric.
These are for closed systems usually called hydronic systems and they are just for heating.
However unlike hot water heaters some boiler systems come with a hot water storage cylinder.
Instead a boiler turns water into steam.
Now that you ve got a better idea of what a water heater is and what a boiler is let s review a quick summary of the differences.
For the first boilers are the way to go.
They can be 8 14 more energy efficient for homes that use a lot of hot water around 86 gallons per day.
Another difference between boilers and tankless water heaters is how each unit handles the water.
For homes that use 41 gallons or less of hot water daily demand water heaters can be 24 34 more energy efficient than conventional storage tank water heaters.
As their name implies tankless or on demand water heaters don t store water in a tank.
Boilers can be used to not only heat water but also heat your home and even generate power.