On Dec 23, 5:21*am, wrote:
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:22:21 -0800 (PST), Steve
wrote:





On Dec 22, 8:49*am, wrote:
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:39:21 -0500, "Ray"

wrote:
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?

It's called a tempering tank.

It doesn't make quite as much sense as it appears in most cases.

It does make alot of sense --- but mostly if you also heat your house
with a wood burning stove as I do... *My old electric 40 gal. water
heater finally went belly up after about 20 years of service. *I could
have spent some time and money to fix it but I had been planning to
try a tempering tank system for quite some time. *This seemed to be
the time to try it. *I did all the work myself so I saved a bunch on
installation cost. *I installed a new 40 gal electric water heater and
stripped the old heater of insulation and wiring and piped it in ahead
of the new water heater. *I set it right next to my wood burning stove
and put a recirc loop around the top of the stove and smoke stack pipe
using the top and bottom element ports of the tempering water tank.
It does take awhile of good steady heating of the wood stove to get
the temp of the water up in the tempering tank. *But by just feeling
the copper pipe of the incoming cold water to the tempering tank --
roughly 55 degrees F. -- and the pipe of the tempered water going to
the new water heater -- roughly 110 to 120 degrees F.-- we get enough
benefit to get a couple loads of clothes washed and a shower or two
each morning before the tempered water cools appreciably. *I figure we
save approximately 150+ kwh / month or about $15+ / month on
electricity (6 - 7 months of wood heating in our northern climate).
Payback time of approximately a year for materials not counting the
cost of the new heater which I needed anyway..
Steve

The heat that goes into the tempering tank is heat that does not go
into the living space. There is no such thing as perpetual motion.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In my case, I have alot of wood heat in the basement area of the
tempering tank to spare... I don't notice that I use any more wood
now than I used before the tempering tank. My basement area is
certainly not any cooler. If I do use any more wood than before, it is
insignificant.