That style how water system works very well. One of my friends has that setup in his home. His however does not have the 60 gallon tank, and just draws right off the furnace. This is a very common setup in the northeast and mid-Atlantic region in older homes.
To answer you question Kenmore as to why the house does not get heated up at the same time, the boiler has a separate coil for the domestic hot water that is immersed in the heating water. As the domestic hot water is used, the heating water transfers it's heat to it...sort of an on-demand heater. The heating water is then re-heated by the funace burner, which is controlled by an aquastat in the boiler. Most of the time, it is set so that the funace comes on when the heating water gets below 160 degrees, and shuts off when it gets to 180 degrees. Domestic hot water, because it's traveling though, typically only gets up to about 120-140 degrees because it doesn't stay within the coil long enough to absorb the full 180 degrees of temp.
the house though does not get heated when the DHW is being used because of a circulator pump. If the house is in need of heat, the thermostat will switch on the circulator pump, distributing the heating water from the boiler through the radiators around the house. Again, the burner lights when the water temprature in the boiler drops enough, which usually isn't long after the cooler water returning from the radiators gets there! Remarkably, these furnaces even do a good job both heating the house and heating DHW at the same time. It is the design William Levitt and Henry Eichler used with their radiant floor heating systems in their mass-produced homes due to it's simplicity.
To answer you question Kenmore as to why the house does not get heated up at the same time, the boiler has a separate coil for the domestic hot water that is immersed in the heating water. As the domestic hot water is used, the heating water transfers it's heat to it...sort of an on-demand heater. The heating water is then re-heated by the funace burner, which is controlled by an aquastat in the boiler. Most of the time, it is set so that the funace comes on when the heating water gets below 160 degrees, and shuts off when it gets to 180 degrees. Domestic hot water, because it's traveling though, typically only gets up to about 120-140 degrees because it doesn't stay within the coil long enough to absorb the full 180 degrees of temp.
the house though does not get heated when the DHW is being used because of a circulator pump. If the house is in need of heat, the thermostat will switch on the circulator pump, distributing the heating water from the boiler through the radiators around the house. Again, the burner lights when the water temprature in the boiler drops enough, which usually isn't long after the cooler water returning from the radiators gets there! Remarkably, these furnaces even do a good job both heating the house and heating DHW at the same time. It is the design William Levitt and Henry Eichler used with their radiant floor heating systems in their mass-produced homes due to it's simplicity.