victor_c3
Premium Member
Basically, I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to use my home's natural gas hot water heater to heat my aquarium in the event of a power outage.
I've got an inverter charger that is good for 3,000 watts and a crap-load of batteries. Based on my calculations, I can run everything but my electric tank heaters at full blast for under 1000 watts. Given that I have 8x 200 amp/hour batteries, I should be able to keep my tank going without a hiccup for at least 16 hours with my lights, powerheads, and main system pump going at full blast. In reality I would dial everything down during a power outage and be able to stretch that out 2-3 (or more) days - or so I figure.
The only problem is heating the tank. The overall system I'm building will be around 1,500 gallons and the energy consumption to heat the thing - especially during a power outage in the winter - will be crazy.
I tried looking for a gas pool heater with a titanium heat exchanger, but I can't find one. They are all copper or a nickel/copper alloy. That would be an easy solution.
Then I did some math. My home's natural gas hot water heater can crank out 36,000 BTUs. According to a swimming pool calculator I found, on the high-end I would require 6-10,000 BTUs to maintain the tank water 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding room temperature. I can find titanium heat exchangers for about $400 that are rated to transfer 85,000 BTUs. (see link) https://jet.com/product/85000-BTU-T...-Wood-Boiler/c5677f7658ed444d80554ae0cca6885f
I figure if I feed this with a recirculation pump coming off of my hot water heater that I should be good to go. This is the pump I'm eyeballing:
http://www.supplyhouse.com/Grundfos-59896832-ALPHA-15-55-F-LC-Cast-Iron-Circulator-Pump-w-Line-Cord
Do you think this will work? Is it just as simple as plumbing these two things together? Or do I need to add all sorts of expansion tanks and whatnot? I'm guessing the hot water tank itself has all sort of pressure release valves and stuff. If this will work, then I should have no problem heating several thousand gallons with only using a few hundred watts of electricity.
Does anyone have any thoughts or different ideas?
I've got an inverter charger that is good for 3,000 watts and a crap-load of batteries. Based on my calculations, I can run everything but my electric tank heaters at full blast for under 1000 watts. Given that I have 8x 200 amp/hour batteries, I should be able to keep my tank going without a hiccup for at least 16 hours with my lights, powerheads, and main system pump going at full blast. In reality I would dial everything down during a power outage and be able to stretch that out 2-3 (or more) days - or so I figure.
The only problem is heating the tank. The overall system I'm building will be around 1,500 gallons and the energy consumption to heat the thing - especially during a power outage in the winter - will be crazy.
I tried looking for a gas pool heater with a titanium heat exchanger, but I can't find one. They are all copper or a nickel/copper alloy. That would be an easy solution.
Then I did some math. My home's natural gas hot water heater can crank out 36,000 BTUs. According to a swimming pool calculator I found, on the high-end I would require 6-10,000 BTUs to maintain the tank water 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding room temperature. I can find titanium heat exchangers for about $400 that are rated to transfer 85,000 BTUs. (see link) https://jet.com/product/85000-BTU-T...-Wood-Boiler/c5677f7658ed444d80554ae0cca6885f
I figure if I feed this with a recirculation pump coming off of my hot water heater that I should be good to go. This is the pump I'm eyeballing:
http://www.supplyhouse.com/Grundfos-59896832-ALPHA-15-55-F-LC-Cast-Iron-Circulator-Pump-w-Line-Cord
Do you think this will work? Is it just as simple as plumbing these two things together? Or do I need to add all sorts of expansion tanks and whatnot? I'm guessing the hot water tank itself has all sort of pressure release valves and stuff. If this will work, then I should have no problem heating several thousand gallons with only using a few hundred watts of electricity.
Does anyone have any thoughts or different ideas?
