Heating large tanks with your gas hot water heater. Save 40% on energy cost!

[justingraham]

Hmm looks like I’d just need another motorized ball valve and tap off any cold water line for cooling. Where does the cold water line go after passing through the heat exchanger?

Ur water is that cold? Mine isn’t esp if I run it for longer then a min

 

[Dubs83]

Ur water is that cold? Mine isn’t esp if I run it for longer then a min

Yea I’m on a well. It comes out COLD

 

[justingraham]

Lucky duck

 

[Feet4Fish]

You can also do something like this where its all mounted together and can do heating and cooling . this is how we build the ones we sell .

Are these for sale on your site?

 

[Dubs83]

You can also do something like this where its all mounted together and can do heating and cooling . this is how we build the ones we sell .

Can you please explain this a bit more? @Pigpen

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Can you please explain this a bit more? @Pigpen

Cool, does that work very efficient with Ray packs or tankless w/h? I like it. Thanks for sharing

 

[Dubs83]

Cool, does that work very efficient with Ray packs or tankless w/h? I like it. Thanks for sharing

I couldn’t tell ya. Hoping the poster would explain this a little more so I can try and make a scaled down version of this.

 

[Raul-7]

Did you use a PEX coil in the aquarium?

 

[Leland Foley]

Pex doesn’t transfer heat well. You need a titanium heat exchanger.

-Leland

 

[Leland Foley]

Pex doesn’t transfer heat very well. You need a titanium heat exchanger.

-Leland

 

[Muttley000]

Did you use a PEX coil in the aquarium?

I've been using a Pex coil for 3 or 4 years now, no problems and it heats the tank just fine. I have a 50' coil in my 270 gallon sump

 

[Blue Carbon Reefing]

I used the titanium heat exchanger. I have seen it both ways. AlexG used the coil through his sump without any problems. Mine is running flawlessly with the heat exchanger.

 

[Dubs83]

I also use the titanium heat exchanger and it works perfectly. I’m saving way more than 40%, too.

I use PEX to deliver the water to the Ti heat exchanger as it doesn’t transfer heat very well. Which in my case is good as I have a 60’-70’ run to the fishroom. I do plan on insulating it down the road.

 

[DBR_Reef]

I also use the titanium heat exchanger and it works perfectly. I’m saving way more than 40%, too.

I use PEX to deliver the water to the Ti heat exchanger as it doesn’t transfer heat very well. Which in my case is good as I have a 60’-70’ run to the fishroom. I do plan on insulating it down the road.

That's a nice looking setup- do you have a actual estimate on your savings. The 40% I gave was kindof a guesstimate minimum, but I have never bothered to figure out exactly how much I am saving/ spending. Just curious

 

[Dubs83]

That's a nice looking setup- do you have a actual estimate on your savings. The 40% I gave was kindof a guesstimate minimum, but I have never bothered to figure out exactly how much I am saving/ spending. Just curious

Thanks! Inspired by you, sir!

It’s hard to tell exactly how much I’m saving since my water heater is an indirect heater. Meaning my hot water is actually stored in a very well insulated tank and depends on my oil furnace to being the temp back up when it cools. I don’t know how much oil it burns to keep the water hot but I can tell you it’s insignificant. This winter, I have not noticed my oil going any faster than it has the 2 years prior.

I can also tell you that the difference between my December electric bill using electric heaters was $60 more than my electric bill in May when we rarely need AC and the basement stays around 75.

The last thing I can you is that the APEX estimates the current heat set up to cost me around $1.23 per month. That’s a huge difference. Even if I burned an additional 4-5 gallons a month, which I’m no where near that, it wouldn’t cost me more than $20 a month.

 

[mdc860]

I also use a gas water heater, with electric heaters as backup. I use an in sump Titanium coil (1/3HP). My setup as follows.

Hardware:

• Apex Controller
• In sump Ti coil. (pictured below)
• STC-1000 Temperature Controller.
• Taco 007-SF5 Stainless Pump (w/valves)
• Misc. pex valves, fittings, and stainless swagelock adaptors.

Controls:

• Temperature controller used to as backup. It will cut power to the recirculating pump when it exceeds the temp setpoint. Relay is wired in series with the pump. Controller is never powered off.
• Apex controls the recirculating pump. After 0.1F increase in temperature, the recirculating pump shuts off. The pump needs ~2.5mins to heat the water 0.1F. After the pump shuts off, my temp continues to increase 0.8F. This is a function of my tank volume (~140g), coil size, and ambient temperature.
• The pump needs to stay off for minimum of 30mins before turned on again (Apex)
• The temp needs to be below setpoint for 1min before turning on the pump (Apex)
• Turn the pump on 2x/day for 1min to circulate water. After 1min, the hot water has not reached the Ti coil yet. This prevents stagnant water when not used during the summer. I do not purge the system, but have fittings installed if necessary.
• Misc. overtemp/undertemp emails & text message alerts (Apex)

Side Note. I take the hot water from our kitchen sink, but return the hot water directly to the water heater. Anytime the recirculating pump turns on, we have instant hot water at our kitchen sink and dishwasher. No basement and all of the pex tubing is run in the crawlspace from tank to kitchen/garage.

so I'm looking to use this same coil- what sort of fittings come with it? how to attach the coil to the PEX?

 

[ca1ore]

Curious if anyone has done this for cooling as I’d be quite happy to dispense with my chiller. I use a well and incoming water is around 50 degrees with very little variation between Summer and Winter. Easy enough to get to the cold water, but where does it circulate back to?

 

[panic]

Great idea!

 

[Muttley000]

Curious if anyone has done this for cooling as I’d be quite happy to dispense with my chiller. I use a well and incoming water is around 50 degrees with very little variation between Summer and Winter. Easy enough to get to the cold water, but where does it circulate back to?

I have thought about this but I think it would just go into my garden pond as a water change.

 

[ca1ore]

I have thought about this but I think it would just go into my garden pond as a water change.

Yeah, I don't see how to 'return' the water to the house like the hot water heater hack. I wonder if this is how Bill W. does his tank?