Patent ID: 7284710

Claim:
A hydronic heat management system usable to heat a supply of domestic water, comprising: a supply of heating solution; a heatable container for the heating solution; a pump for directing flow of the heating solution; a domestic water port for receiving water from the supply of domestic water; heat exchanger structure with plural regions that accommodate for the flow of heating solution through one region and domestic water through another, and being constructed to direct flow of the heating solution in a direction opposite to that of the domestic water; at least one heating loop that is effective to provide heat to a heating zone; heating-zone port structure for connecting to the at least one heating loop; temperature sensor structure located adjacent the heatable container, the heat exchanger structure and the port structure; control structure in bi-directional communication with the system and constructed to actuate the pump and the heatable container to heat the heating solution based upon whether the temperature of the heating solution is above a preselected threshold, and wherein the control structure is in communication with a user interface that allows the user to be informed about the status of the system; plural heating loops and plural ports for connecting to the plural heating loops to heat plural heating zones; plural hydronic heating sources to supply supplemental heat to the heated container; a short heating loop and a long heating loop; and wherein the control structure is constructed to direct the flow of the heating solution through the short loop supporting demand for hot domestic water but not heat, and through a long loop supporting demand for both hot domestic water and heat.