Hybrid Energy Recovery

The special Hybrid Energy Recovery® cycle has a proven track record of quietly helping homeowners save for nearly 30 years.

Energy Kinetics High Efficiency Boilers

Hybrid Energy Recovery® and Thermal Purge

  • Conventional steel and cast iron residential boilers weigh several hundred pounds and often contain 8 to 15 gallons of water, and the burner may run 8 to 15 minutes just to heat the boiler itself.  And when the burner does shut off, there is still 8 to 15 minutes of runtime energy left wasted in the boiler, each and every time the burner runs.
  • To help reduce all these “idle” losses, some better grade conventional boiler designs add insulation and burner dampers, but this is like having a well-insulated coffee thermos bottle and leaving the top off – a terrible waste of energy.
  • Our low mass, fast heating boilers warm up in as little as 90 seconds.  Our control then anticipates the comfortable room temperature and our Hybrid Energy Recovery (or Thermal Purge control) recovers the energy left in the boiler by sending it to your living spaces or to your high performance hot water storage tank.  This saves energy wasted in all other outdoor reset and conventional boiler controls, and provides gentle warmth and comfort for longer, reducing thermostat calls and burner run time.
  • Cast iron boilers can’t compare…with so much weight they would overheat with any substantial thermal purge.  So these boilers rely on temperature reset alone, which a Department of Energy publication shows may only adjust AFUE efficiency by 0.6%.  And so called “high efficiency” condensing boilers only adjust efficiency by 3%!*
  • Compare these designs to Energy Kinetics.  In a separate Department of Energy Lab Study, our low mass with thermal purge design was demonstrated to save up to 38% over conventional boilers.  And our condensing Accel CS™ boiler can save even more.
  • As a final note, don’t confuse thermal pre-purge used on cast iron boilers with Hybrid Energy Recovery and Thermal Purge (post-purge).  Thermal pre-purge allows boiler heat energy to be wasted by simply delaying the burner from firing for a few minutes on the next thermostat call.  Read more about controls and efficiency here.

*Adjustment to AFUE based on return water temperature application and automatic means option U.S. Department of Energy Table 7-B.2.12 NODA for Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Boilers Docket No.: EERE-2012-BT-STD-0047.


History of Thermal Purge and Hybrid Energy Recovery

In the late 1970’s, Energy Kinetics founder, John Marran, knew there had to be a better way to heat homes. Many homes were, and still are, heated by cast iron boilers that often weigh more than 400, and even 600 pounds in addition to holding as much as twenty gallons of water. If conventional massive boilers were to start at room temperature, they would take 8 to 15 minutes just to heat up. A lot of energy and time is required before the boiler even begins to deliver heat or hot water. When the thermostat call ends, that 8 to 15 minutes of energy remaining in the boiler is typically lost up the chimney and to the outside. This is especially true in the spring, summer and fall. Even worse, many cast iron boilers maintain temperature all day, which means that they lose energy continuously. Homeowners pay an unnecessary and high cost for all that wasted energy. (If the space around your boiler is warm, especially in summer, you’ll probably receive considerable savings by upgrading to System 2000, Resolute™, Accel CS™, Ascent™ Combi and Ascent™ Plus Combi.)

It was clear to John that two things had to occur to improve real efficiency. First, design a boiler that simply weighs less so it can heat up in a minute or two and more heat goes into your home instead of into the boiler itself. Second, anticipate the end of the thermostat call and “move” the heat from the boiler into the home or domestic hot water storage so that no energy is left wasted in the boiler.

John Marran invented the combined heat and hot water System 2000 with these innovative engineering concepts. His design was generations ahead of the industry and has stood the test of time with over 35 years of proven performance. John’s System 2000 low mass boiler with thermal purge or Hybrid Energy Recovery provides dependable heat and hot water at very high efficiency. Today, System 2000, Resolute, and Accel CS deliver proven savings of up to 40% or more over boilers with similar AFUE. When our low mass thermal purge design was tested against its competitors at the Department of Energy’s world-renowned Brookhaven National Laboratory, it was rated the clear winner.

Invest in better comfort, efficiency, and lower energy bills today with the installation of a System 2000, Resolute, Accel CS, Ascent Combi and Ascent Plus Combi boiler.