Logan Shaw wrote:
Bill wrote:
"Logan Shaw" wrote in message
There's only one thing that I'd want to verify: what kind of germs
are going to grow in water that is above 70F but below the
temperature of a regular water heater's tank? They say one reason
not to turn your water heater's thermostat too low is that the
lower temperatures encourage germs to multiply. If that's true, it
seems like this might apply to the tank next to your wood stove.

The water is from the city and is chlorinated.

All right, I did some more research. From what I could dig up, the
"growth range" for Legionella bacteria is 20C to 50C (68F to 122F)
and the "ideal growth range" is 35C to 46C (95F to 115F). That
information is from he

http://www.relianceworldwide.com/site/fs_legionella.htm

As to whether chlorination kills it, the same site says that a
concentration of 10 mg/L will do the trick. According to what
I could find other places, chlorinated drinking water seems to
contain chlorine in a concentration of something more like
0.5 mg/L. But it may have been initially treated with a much
higher level, something on the order of 5 mg/L to 10 mg/L.

Here's a site that talks about chlorinating well water:

http://www.water-research.net/watert...lorination.htm

So, I don't know, you may be safe. If they kill the bacteria
before they send the water down the pipe to your house, there
wouldn't be any worry as long as nothing reintroduces it anywhere
in the distribution network. But whether that happens is beyond my expertise.

That last does happen. Which is why the recommendation on the temperature of storage hot water systems.