Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
Unless your hot water heater is right beside the couch, the heat lost to the area immediately around your heater is completely useless to the overall heating of your house. Just like the argument that incandescent lightbulbs help heat the house. They do, but extra heat up by the ceiling if of no use to the occupants of the house.
It helps heat your house, but who really cares if your furnace room is a degree warmer than it would otherwise be?
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Sure, you have temperature gradients in your house and long time constants in thermal processes but ultimately the lost heat is really not lost, that was the train of thought. Once you are at that steady state, the heat goes in to the house, often from the center and bottom.