Speaking of hot water, a few years back I needed to replace the boiler for my home heating, and I learned that there are “indirect fired” hot water tanks that use the boiler to call for heat. I did the math and had one put in.

I love it because the tank is dead simple, very little to go wrong, no burning and rusting and blowing out the bottom seams.

And my favorite aspect is that it exercises my boiler all year round, so I know won’t have nasty surprises when the winter season starts.