salty joe
Active member
You still got a good deal...I just got lucky:rollface:
I don't think so. You might be able to unscrew them and add Ts though.
DIY water heater setup to heat tank
- Thread starter metzz71
- Start date
You still got a good deal...I just got lucky:rollface:
I don't think so. You might be able to unscrew them and add Ts though.
one clownfish
Member
I did the same thing on my 200 a few years back. It was one of the best upgrades I've ever done. A lot of people don't like this system because it uses the house hot water tank instead of a dedicated hot water tank. Their biggest problem with it is, in the summer you have water sitting in the heat exchanger for 6-8 months, depending where you live. Then, in the fall when the tank calls for hot water, all the nasty water gets mixed in with your clean hotwater. I added enough hose so I could pull the heat exchanger out from the sump and set it on top. Then, I would cycle the the pump 6x/day, 5 min/cycle through out the summer. Problem fixed
You could do this with well water however the water in the pressure tank is at room temp, not really cold enough to chill tank water.
In the summer you could program the heater to turn on 1-2 times a day for 1-2min. It wouldn't raise the tank temp all that much if any, and it would keep the water from going stagnant. I have my heater loop plumbed so I could remove it or bypass it I wanted to.
Better late than never?
Better late than never?
Hi all! I know I'm a couple of years late to the party but just in case - if I understand the OP correctly, if I have a Laing E1 circulation pump, I can hook up the whole thing to the Hot and Cold water connections under the utility sink in my fish room, which is the most distant faucet from my water heater. Is this correct I don't have to connect anything directly to the water heater?
Thanks for any input.
Better late than never?
Hi all! I know I'm a couple of years late to the party but just in case - if I understand the OP correctly, if I have a Laing E1 circulation pump, I can hook up the whole thing to the Hot and Cold water connections under the utility sink in my fish room, which is the most distant faucet from my water heater. Is this correct I don't have to connect anything directly to the water heater?
Thanks for any input.
GlassReef - you are correct, you don't need anything directly connected to the water heater. in your case the pump is at the furthest point in your hot water line. the pump then pulls hot water from the hot water line to the outlet side of the pump which is then connected to a loop of piping sitting in your sump. the end of the pipe loop then connects to a check valve and then to the cold water line. then pump would then be controlled through some some temp controller triggered by sump temp.
On of the things you want to watch for is that your cold water may get warm. However the most important and critical thing is that the aquarium water must never mix with your drinking water so keep all connections well clear of submersion in the sump.
On of the things you want to watch for is that your cold water may get warm. However the most important and critical thing is that the aquarium water must never mix with your drinking water so keep all connections well clear of submersion in the sump.
lovefish134
New member
That looks good.
wow this is a really cool idea i've never heard of til now, so basically you guys are using re-circulation pumps meant for getting hot water to your sink/tub/shower in far-off rooms, and instead using it as basically a heat exchanger for the aquarium. Plus I bet you get instant hot water too, as someone mentioned. My house also has CPVC plumbing so it tends to take forever for the heat to get there, I bet this would solve both problems at once. Could probably tie into bathroom plumbing in a near by bath. Very tempting.
jduck
Member
Not recommended to tie into those lines. Best going close to water heater.
If you try to get cold water out of the tap it will be hot/warm. Make sure you have a selnoid valve. I had a toilet stick running overnight and cook my tank.
yeah that makes sense. sounds like really, what you need more than anything, is a dedicated cold return. you could probably share a hot off something else though i imagine?
Honestly running this type of loop off a tank type water heater is simply a bad idea.
If you run it off the existing lines using the cold for a hot return, as said, you will have issues and possibility of major problems if anything goes wrong.
If you run the loop directly off the water heater it will work fine, until summer time when the water in the loop stagnates and starts growing legionella(its very common and deadly), then it starts up again in winter and bam your whole hot water supply is contaminated.
If you have a tank type water heater, you will need a heat exchanger and two pumps. One to run house hot water to the heat exchanger and one to run the tank loop.
In the end I wound up getting a small tankless gas water heater off ebay for about $180 and using that for a dedicated heating system for the tank and I could not be happier. Been running it for about 4-5 years now.
If you run it off the existing lines using the cold for a hot return, as said, you will have issues and possibility of major problems if anything goes wrong.
If you run the loop directly off the water heater it will work fine, until summer time when the water in the loop stagnates and starts growing legionella(its very common and deadly), then it starts up again in winter and bam your whole hot water supply is contaminated.
If you have a tank type water heater, you will need a heat exchanger and two pumps. One to run house hot water to the heat exchanger and one to run the tank loop.
In the end I wound up getting a small tankless gas water heater off ebay for about $180 and using that for a dedicated heating system for the tank and I could not be happier. Been running it for about 4-5 years now.
I built a tube & shell heat exchanger and heat my 150 aquarium with a dedicated zone from my home's boiler. Works sweet! Bet I have the only oil-fired aquarium in New England! Using electricity to heat the tank is just too expensive.
After the fact, I did have to write a "purge" routine to prevent stagnation of the aquarium loop during the summer months. It circulates 30 seconds every four hours (without calling for boiler heat). I bet this is an often overlooked scenario in these situations.
After the fact, I did have to write a "purge" routine to prevent stagnation of the aquarium loop during the summer months. It circulates 30 seconds every four hours (without calling for boiler heat). I bet this is an often overlooked scenario in these situations.
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