"Bill" wrote in message
...
Just get a used electric water heater tank - say 50 gallons. Then remove
all the insulation around the tank. Remove the electrical wiring.

-or-

Buy a new water tank which can be pressurized to city water pressure
levels. (I think water heater tanks are tested to 300 psi, but actual
pressure would be from 30 psi to 100 psi.)

Then connect this tank *before* your existing water heater.

This would be pointless upstairs in the winter. You would be using more
house heating to warm the tank. In an unheated basement or furnace room,
might reduce expenses? And of course in the summer, it would be a money
saver if the city water temperature is colder than your house temperature.

More savings would be with a "heat exchanger" tank and a solar water
heating system.

How does a heat exchanger tank work, in both summer/winter? Configuration?

How about this, just for the summer, apropos of heat exchange:

Take a hundred feet or so of copper tubing, in a helix or some some compact
"serpentine" configuration, with a fan, on a drip pan for the condensate,
somewhere in the house, which would preheat the water, cool and dehumidify
the house?

The problems with this are finding a spot to do this, and then the fact that
relatively little water will actually be used, as there is not constant
flow. But if the above could be done cheaply enough....

Also, I would do this for both the hot AND cold water -- after all, does
anyone really need cold-cold water?

Mebbe the start of a three-line faucet: hot/cold/tepid.....
--
EA








"Ray" wrote in message
Recently I read somewhere that it's possible to add an auxiliary tank to
supply water heaters.

The purpose is, water comes from underground into a storage tank, where
the temperature of the water is raised by ordinary basement
temperatures -- especially in furnace rooms.

This water then feeds water into the heating tank at a considerably
higher temperature, thereby saving energy costs.

This is common sense. Is this technology available now?