Now we're cooking with GAS!

[enderg60]

Its been a hard winter, and even with over 3000 watts of heaters my tank was struggling to keep my temps at 68F. Needless to say corals did not like it at all.

So after some research and mostly this thread, I went for it.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1771510">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1771510</a>

100' 1/2" PEX loop put in my sump/fuge

[IMG]http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae126/Enderg60/Tank%20Progress/20140208_143004_zpsc2exagbd.jpg alt="" />

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Grundfos Pump and air separator(and piping to expansion tank)

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And the heater, temp gauges, fill spout and drain.

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Overall system is 480g with about 180 being in my unheated basement. Once running it brought my temp from 69 to 72 in less then 20 min. Im going to slowly bring it back up to 78.

Aside from the temp gauges sucking(I have a laser thermometer to check things) the system is working great and for a total of under $500 Im pretty pleased

 

[clay4au]

That's awesome!

 

[curtismaximus]

Clay4AU;939280 wrote: That's awesome!

Wow that is unreal! Is it like a closed hot water system?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Do you think will affect the electric or gas consumption much? I cant imagine it will too much, but Im curious.

 

[enderg60]

Yup it just circulates water through the loop and back to the heater. While those temp gauges suck, my laser thermometer is showing the HW leaving at around 130F and coming back at around 80-90F.

I figured it would pay for itself in less then 3 years. If I actually used electric heat to keep the tank at 78 it would pay for itself in one winter.

With the 3kw's of heat I was spending between $60-$100 a month this winter with them running 24/7. I cant confirm it now that the cold spike is over but my estimates are that this cant cost more then $20 a month.

I have it set on the lowest gas setting and it only comes on for 5 min every 3-4 hours, and takes about 15 min to heat the tank 1 degree. Once off it creeps up another 0.1-0.2 degrees so the temp bounces about 0.4 degrees max during a heating cycle.

Got the tank up to 75 now and will take it up to 78 over today.

Im pretty pleased with the setup.

 

[acroholic]

Daniel, would there be any similar options if you had a standard gas heated hot water tank?

My hot water heater has an expansion tank, etc. What about circulating water from the HW tank to the sump in a PEX loop like you have, then back to the HW heater?

 

[enderg60]

That has been done. I have a tankless water heater for the house so I couldnt just tap off of it. But with circulating off your water heater can be a problem because you run the risk of legionella growing if the loop isnt run for a few days.

If you were going to do it I would use a heat exchanger, but the cost of a heat exchanger is probably about the same as purchasing a cheapy heater like I did.

 

[enderg60]

The heater itself wasnt all that much of the cost. The circ pump was about $100, air separator was $30, Expansion tank was $20 and the heater was $150. The largest cost was the CPVC and fittings.

 

[heathlindner25]

Acroholic;939397 wrote: Daniel, would there be any similar options if you had a standard gas heated hot water tank?

My hot water heater has an expansion tank, etc. What about circulating water from the HW tank to the sump in a PEX loop like you have, then back to the HW heater?

" hot water heater"If the water is already hot why does it need to be heated...lol
its called a water heater, Dave.

 

[acroholic]

heathlindner25;939406 wrote: " hot water heater"If the water is already hot why does it need to be heated...lol
its called a water heater, Dave.

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[heathlindner25]

Acroholic;939410 wrote:

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sorry Dave it's from being a construction worker for 20 years..lol

 

[acroholic]

No problem....LOL.

 

[heathlindner25]

Acroholic;939412 wrote: No problem....LOL.

finally ....somebody gets my humor...lol

 

[enderg60]

I wonder if anyone under 30 gets that reference lol

 

[enderg60]

Update time.

The system is still working wonderfully.

I did have 2 issues from the original layout that needed to be changed, and one fix though.

1. I had to replace the PEX loop with PEX that had an oxygen barrier to keep the pump from rusting.

2. I had to replace the CPVC bits between the air separator and pump with metal due to leaks caused by the metal expanding larger than the CPVC fittings.

3. I had to replace the flow switch on the water heater. Wore out apparently but it was $5.

Other than those things the system has been working fantastically all winter. A testament to that, my heat was off for 2 days(furnace issues) and my downstairs and basement got down to 45 degrees. But the tank stayed at 78 the entire time.

I absolutely love this system and would recommend anyone with a basement sump, or large tank in general to think about it.

 

[bcavalli]

Great job thinking outside the box Ender!

 

[rdnelson]

Acroholic;939397 wrote: Daniel, would there be any similar options if you had a standard gas heated hot water tank?



My hot water heater has an expansion tank, etc. What about circulating water from the HW tank to the sump in a PEX loop like you have, then back to the HW heater?

Great idea however, I would be cautious of running domestic water in a loop system that has potential for contamination. Of course, most people do not drink hot water but, I would much rather see a closed look of water in the simp tha then circulates through a heatexchanger. Up north, boilers are used this way to heat the house but domestic water is always heated through a heat exchanger.