DIYbanter - View Single Post - emergency heating of home with hot water tank

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wrote:

Saw a post recently where somene tried heating their home during a
power outage by snaking a garden hose thru home connected to their hot
water tank, dumping the presumedly cool water in their bathtub and
running it slowly. kinda ingenious emergency raiant floor heating.

I wonder how well this would work? my furnace is a 40 year old lennox
130,000 BTU my curren hot water tank is 75,000 BTU.

Per hour?

I have a emergency generator but believe in always be prepared

You might look for a way to use the "waste heat" (80% of the output.)

any thoughts on this idea?

.... 100' of 1" diameter hose (ie 26 ft^2) and a 1.5 Btu/h-F-ft^2 slow-
moving airfilm conductance might move (120-70)26x1.5 = 1950 Btu/h with
120 F water and 70 F house air. An 800 Btu/h-F automobile radiator might
move (120-70)800 = 40K Btu/h. It would be more efficient to pump water
back into the heater than to dump it down a tub drain.

Nick