Un-insulated water heater tank by woodstove!

This reinforces a conclusion that I reached long ago. What this world needs is
another world war or maybe a pandemic. That way people won't have time to worry
about such trivial, almost nil risks.

I swear that some folks, when they get to heaven, will worry that their wings
aren't
large enough.

Johh, happily living on unchlorinated, untested, good-taasting well water.
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. Lick once and you suck forever.

Posted by willshak on March 29, 2008, 3:09 pm

on 3/28/2008 9:59 AM Bill said the following:

> As you may know, an electric water heater can be 30% of your electric

> bill...

> Well I got to thinking... I have this nice woodstove which puts out a lot of

> heat and it is always 80 to 100 degrees (F) next to the woodstove.

> Is there some way I can use this heat to "pre-heat" the water going into my

> hot water heater????

> Well I came up with an idea and tried it out. It works!

> I got a used 50 gallon water heater at a recycling center. Then removed the

> sheet metal cover and removed the insulation. So now I had just a bare metal

> 50 gallon tank. I painted it black as in theory black absorbs heat better.

> Then I placed this tank next to my woodstove. Then disconnected the cold

> water going to my hot water heater and ran that to the bottom (drain)

> connection on the tank by the woodstove. Then ran a pipe going out the top

> of the tank by the woodstove to the cold water inlet of my electric hot

> water heater. (Cold into the bottom, warm out the top.)

> Note: My electric water heater is located on the other side of the wall next

> to my woodstove.

> After just a few hours, the water coming out of the top of the tank by the

> wood stove was about 70 degrees. (The water from the city going into the

> tank is 40 degrees F.) At this point the bottom of the tank felt cold and

> the top was not cold.

> The next morning, the entire tank was slightly warm.

> Anyway I am now "pre-heating" the water going to my hot water heater. So

> instead of my water heater having to heat up 40 degree water, it will only

> need to heat up water which will be from 70-80 degrees. Perhaps warmer if I

> have the woodstove going full blast and have not used any hot water for a

> while. So should save some $$ on my electric bill.

> Building code note: Now that I see this idea works, I'm going to install the

> tank next to my woodstove to "code"* like a water heater tank would be. That

> is drip pan, T&P valve, and strapped to wall for earthquakes. *I don't

> suppose code covers anything like this? I also installed a valve and pipe to

> outside for draining the tank.

> Temperature and "steam" note: The temperature next to my woodstove never

> gets above 115 degrees F. and water boils at 212 degrees. So no possibility

> of steam being created.

How about a coil of soft copper tubing attached to the rear of the
woodstove before it goes into your storage tank ( a coil like on the
back of a dehumidifer) which would transfer heat by convection rather
than radiation?

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Posted by Don Bruder on March 29, 2008, 3:25 pm

> on 3/28/2008 9:59 AM Bill said the following:

> > As you may know, an electric water heater can be 30% of your electric

> > bill...

> >

> > Well I got to thinking... I have this nice woodstove which puts out a lot

> > of

> > heat and it is always 80 to 100 degrees (F) next to the woodstove.

> >

> > Is there some way I can use this heat to "pre-heat" the water going into my

> > hot water heater????

> >

> > Well I came up with an idea and tried it out. It works!

> >

> > I got a used 50 gallon water heater at a recycling center. Then removed the

> > sheet metal cover and removed the insulation. So now I had just a bare

> > metal

> > 50 gallon tank. I painted it black as in theory black absorbs heat better.

> >

> > Then I placed this tank next to my woodstove. Then disconnected the cold

> > water going to my hot water heater and ran that to the bottom (drain)

> > connection on the tank by the woodstove. Then ran a pipe going out the top

> > of the tank by the woodstove to the cold water inlet of my electric hot

> > water heater. (Cold into the bottom, warm out the top.)

> >

> > Note: My electric water heater is located on the other side of the wall

> > next

> > to my woodstove.

> >

> > After just a few hours, the water coming out of the top of the tank by the

> > wood stove was about 70 degrees. (The water from the city going into the

> > tank is 40 degrees F.) At this point the bottom of the tank felt cold and

> > the top was not cold.

> >

> > The next morning, the entire tank was slightly warm.

> >

> > Anyway I am now "pre-heating" the water going to my hot water heater. So

> > instead of my water heater having to heat up 40 degree water, it will only

> > need to heat up water which will be from 70-80 degrees. Perhaps warmer if I

> > have the woodstove going full blast and have not used any hot water for a

> > while. So should save some $$ on my electric bill.

> >

> > Building code note: Now that I see this idea works, I'm going to install

> > the

> > tank next to my woodstove to "code"* like a water heater tank would be.

> > That

> > is drip pan, T&P valve, and strapped to wall for earthquakes. *I don't

> > suppose code covers anything like this? I also installed a valve and pipe

> > to

> > outside for draining the tank.

> >

> > Temperature and "steam" note: The temperature next to my woodstove never

> > gets above 115 degrees F. and water boils at 212 degrees. So no possibility

> > of steam being created.

> >

> How about a coil of soft copper tubing attached to the rear of the

> woodstove before it goes into your storage tank ( a coil like on the

> back of a dehumidifer) which would transfer heat by convection rather

> than radiation?

Do that and you start running into the potential for steam, which leads
to needing to deal with the related hazards that can come of it being in
an enclosed place... (Can you say boiler license, pressure vessel,
regulator valve, state inspector, and "expensive"? Sure... I knew you
could!)

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

Posted by Neon John on March 29, 2008, 4:46 pm

>> How about a coil of soft copper tubing attached to the rear of the

>> woodstove before it goes into your storage tank ( a coil like on the

>> back of a dehumidifer) which would transfer heat by convection rather

>> than radiation?

>Do that and you start running into the potential for steam, which leads

>to needing to deal with the related hazards that can come of it being in

>an enclosed place... (Can you say boiler license, pressure vessel,

>regulator valve, state inspector, and "expensive"? Sure... I knew you

>could!)

Geez, I wonder how all those millions of oil, wood and coal-fired furnace water
heating loops manage to operate without a special grant of privilege from
Congress?
Maybe some day some academic will do a study and figure out why Usenet seems to
attract such a concentration of dickhead-isms.

For a simple application like this, a simple water heater P-T relief valve is
more
than adequate. As far as the bureaucracies go, there is no involvement until a
certain large firing rate. In Ga it is 1.5 million BTU per unit. TN's is a
little
lower - can't recall exactly - but still above 1 million BTU.

John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
I'm going crazy. Wanna come along?

Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on March 29, 2008, 5:29 pm

> Geez, I wonder how all those millions of oil, wood and coal-fired furnace

> water

> heating loops manage to operate without a special grant of privilege from

> Congress?

> Maybe some day some academic will do a study and figure out why Usenet

> seems to

> attract such a concentration of dickhead-isms.

> For a simple application like this, a simple water heater P-T relief valve

> is more

> than adequate. As far as the bureaucracies go, there is no involvement

> until a

> certain large firing rate. In Ga it is 1.5 million BTU per unit. TN's is

> a little

> lower - can't recall exactly - but still above 1 million BTU.

> John

In Mass, it is pressure. Anything with a 15 psi relief valve is OK, no
matter the size. At 15 psi and over you need a different license depending
on size. Up to 299 hp you need a special or a 2nd class fireman, at 300 hp
you need an engineer full time. etc. There is an exception for very small
boilers but I forget the size.

In any case, it is not very difficult to make a loop that would be safe and
not require input from any government agency.

Page 7 of 8 < 1 2 3 > last >>

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