Considering using a tankless water heater for the reef..

[theplatypus]

mojo;570289 wrote: I agree- he shouldn't be fighting any head issues. Not only that, but the smallest Panworld or similar external pump would be much better suited; a mag drive pump just isn't reliable in that kind of situation...

Sweet, I haven't completely lost my marbles. :lol2:

 

[morganatlanta]

I would close in the room and heat it. It will be much more pleasant to work down there at 70 than 50.

I'd also check out heating systems from Aquatic Eco-Systems. They supply large scale systems to the aquaculture industry. Here's a heat pump that would take care of heating and cooling:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3786/Aqua-Logic-Delta-Star-Heat-Pumps">http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3786/Aqua-Logic-Delta-Star-Heat-Pumps</a>

Or this in-line heater:
[IMG]http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3925/Aqua-Logic-174-In-Line-Heaters?green=2145578328">http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3925/Aqua-Logic-174-In-Line-Heaters?green=2145578328</a>

 

[enderg60]

I have though alot about closing in the room. the problem I have there is the stairs down to the basement end where I would have to put a door to close the room in. which well would require some more thinking on how to make it work.

The foam will be removable, tape works very well for that

Schwaggs, the residual heat in the piping is not as big a deal as you think. even if there is a full 3 gallons of water in the pipe coil at 140, a 60 degree difference, the system volume is 200x larger so the final temp rise would only be .3 degrees.

my deck is lifted so the area under it is fully open, no issues there.

yes the unit can handle hot water input. there is no reason it cant. All it does is sense if there is flow, if so it turns on the gas. this is a very simple unit.

Mojo, that pump is a hot water recirc pump.

and morgan....HEEEELLLLLL NO did you look at the price of those things?!

yes there are two threads on RC about this. One did it on his regular water heater, one did it with a larger unit like what im proposing. I think he used PEX for the coil. I cant use my water heater since my house is already on tankless heater

 

[mojo]

EnderG60;570309 wrote: yes the unit can handle hot water input. there is no reason it cant. All it does is sense if there is flow, if so it turns on the gas. this is a very simple unit.

Mojo, that pump is a hot water recirc pump.

I was referring to using a MagDrive as an external pump. Mags work fine and they work fine with hot water. But I've had too many leak on me when setup for external use to trust it hooked up to the water supply to the house... that's just asking for problems, IMO.

 

[enderg60]

ahh, true, but thats a whole different topic

 

[morganatlanta]

I wouldn't be surprised if you are up to the cost of one of those inline heaters before you're done anyway, but...

I don't see a reason you couldn't just recirculate hot (or really warm) water from a standard hot water heater in a closed loop and run it through tubing either in your sump, or coiled around the outside of your sump for heat exchange. It would be pretty easy to hook a temperature controller to a standard external pump for the closed loop, and just let the thermostat on the hot water tank do its thing to keep the water in the loop at a constant temperature. Since it would be closed loop, you might not even need to hook it up to your house plumbing.

 

[theplatypus]

MorganAtlanta;570324 wrote: I wouldn't be surprised if you are up to the cost of one of those inline heaters before you're done anyway, but...

I don't see a reason you couldn't just recirculate hot (or really warm) water from a standard hot water heater in a closed loop and run it through tubing either in your sump, or coiled around the outside of your sump for heat exchange. It would be pretty easy to hook a temperature controller to a standard external pump for the closed loop, and just let the thermostat on the hot water tank do its thing to keep the water in the loop at a constant temperature. Since it would be closed loop, you might not even need to hook it up to your house plumbing.

You're about an hour late on that one.

 

[kayakatl]

If any of your sump is sitting on concrete GET IT OFF THE CONCRETE. Seriously, just some of the pink foam insulation under your sump will keep TONS of heat from being absorbed through the floor. You know how the bathroom floor feels in the winter... Its that idea. I am following along with this though, I am quite interested in this. I want to know how to run economical chilling though. The summer kills me with running AC to keep the tank cool. I was going to convert a standard water chiller but the copper piping is a big problem, and Ti. is way to expensive.

 

[enderg60]

na its on a platform. Keeps it off the floor and makes it easy to drain for waterchanges.

I was planning on doing a ground loop for the summer, but was able to keep under 80 with just some fans. next year when I up the lighting...well we'll see.

 

[jead85]

you should try some geothermal energy

 

[enderg60]

Unless you know of a hot spring in my back yard I dont, pretty sure geothermal is only good for cooling in this application.

 

[mojo]

EnderG60;570452 wrote: Unless you know of a hot spring in my back yard I dont, pretty sure geothermal is only good for cooling in this application.

:lol:

 

[miami dolfan]

Don't forget about the RUST factor when using a water heater. Last time I checked I think they're metal which doesn't go too well with salt water.

 

[markl]

Some are metal with glass lined tank. There is one with a plastic tank that i know of but its electric.