Water heater in series to use as storage tank ... good or bad?
 

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike

I did that , I have a good electric tank and put in a gas tankless. It
helps a bit, not much since I have not removred the insulation. It would
help much more if insulation and cover were removed, but then you will
need a drain pan and hose underneath going to a drain because of
condensation. The idea is sound but the insulation limits you.

Fred wrote:
I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly
as a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room
temperature before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even
connect the electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance
to warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated,
will I see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water
move to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike

Why not keep the new one in the box until you need it and then it will
be new and last that much longer.


--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

That's probably what I'll end up doing, but when I see my gas bill
lately, I'm thinking that it'd sure be nice if I could use the new
water heater to save money somehow.

I doubt if it will be worth the effort. First I suspect the tank is
insulated. It also may develop a leak when you don't want it, that is a
liability waiting to happen. During part of the year, you may end up
cooling the water to room temperature so you may want to bypass it then. It
just does not sound worth it to me.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math
"Fred" wrote in message
ups.com...
That's probably what I'll end up doing, but when I see my gas bill
lately, I'm thinking that it'd sure be nice if I could use the new
water heater to save money somehow.

It is an issue of what warms the water. If you are heating your house with
gas, then in the winter you are still using gas to warm the water, just
using the room heater to do it. In the summer, a tank in the attic might
help.
"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike

It seems you are proposing to heat the water up to room temperature with
your furnace, so it would depend on the relative efficiencies of the
furnace and water heater, and how many heating/cooling days you have
each year. However, if the electric heater is new it is probably well
insulated, which would impair the heating. I would guess you would not
save a lot of gas, and would complicate your plumbing, with more
opportunities for something to fail. Judging from my usage pattern in
Ohio, the stove, dryer, and water heater use very little gas; the
furnace makes my winter gas usage soar.

Fred wrote:

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike


--
SPAMBLOCK NOTICE! To reply to me, delete the h from apkh.net, if it is
there.

"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike


The idea of course is to save money. In the winter, the heat to warm the
water in your "pretank" will come out of the heated air surrounding it.
Assuming your waterheater is indoors (even in an attached garage), your
furnace or whatever you use to heat your house will have to work harder in
order to reheat that cooled air. This will make your heating bill a little
higher. Even if the waterheaters are in the garage, colder air in the
garage will eventually drop the temperature in the living quarters...it's
all about thermal dynamics. In the summer this cooling effect might
actually help your AC bill a tiny bit. All in all, it sounds like mistaken
logic to me.

Brad in Bend OR

Nope, heat is heat. If the water tank is being heated by gas or the air is
heated by gas, it still takes 1 btu to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree F.
Now, if you do the science MAYBE it might come out to $10 a year if you have
a 90% furnace, but I doubt even that.

Call the electric company, they may have a special rate for electric hot
water heating which may be cheaper than using gas. In our area gas is now
more expensive to heat a home even with a 90% gas furnace verses a heat pump
and all electric home.


"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike

In article . com, "Fred" wrote:
That's probably what I'll end up doing, but when I see my gas bill
lately, I'm thinking that it'd sure be nice if I could use the new
water heater to save money somehow.

How would it save you any money? The heat to bring the water up to room
temperature has to come from *somewhere*. If it's not being applied directly
(via the water heater), it's coming indirectly from whatever source you use to
heat the room.

To all:

Thanks for the replies. I'm convinced this would not be a worthwhile
effort.

I guess I did not describe my situation adequately. The new water
heater would sit in my utility
room, where the exisiting water heater and furnace are. That room is
always the same temp as
the rest of the house, or slightly warmer due to the heat the furnace
gives off.

If you live in Colorado and see how cold the water from the tap is,
verses the temp of a glass
of water that has been sitting out for awhile, you could see why I'm
wondering if a tank where the
water could come to room temp (like sitting all night before morning
showers, etc.) would be worthwhile.

I can see from the tank being insulated, complicating my plumbing, etc.
it's not likely to be
worthwhile.

Thanks again for all of the advice I received.

Mike

In article .com, "Fred" wrote:

I guess I did not describe my situation adequately. The new water
heater would sit in my utility
room, where the exisiting water heater and furnace are. That room is
always the same temp as
the rest of the house, or slightly warmer due to the heat the furnace
gives off.

Right, and warming up a tankful of cold water in that room will absorb some of
that heat that the furnace gives off -- heat that is therefore not available
to warm the rest of your house. Regardless of when, or where, that water is
heated, the energy to heat it must come from *somewhere*.

There are several variations of heat exchangers that use your shower drain
pipe to preheat the incoming water to your tank. One could build one fairly
simply but it might not be as efficient as the ones that are pre-made.
Basically it is just a roll of soft copper tubing coiled around a copper
waste line. A link to an example is below.


http://www.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs...ty_film_ex.pdf

CR



"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...

I currently have a 50 gallon gas water heater that is being used. I
also have a new electric 50 gallon water heater still in the box. I'm
wondering if it would be worthwhile to connect the electric water
heater in series before my existing gas water heater to use strictly as
a storage tank that will allow the water to come to room temperature
before going into the gas water heater. I wouldn't even connect the
electric water heater to power.

I live in Colorado, so the cold water supply into the water heater is
very cold ... even in the summer time. I'm wondering if a significant
amount of the water going into the gas water heater has had a chance to
warm to room temperature (or close to it) before being heated, will I
see any significnat savings on my gas bill?

Questions:

1. Would this work? If I don't have power to the electric water
heater, will water go from it to the gas water heater? Does water move
to and from water heaters just from water pressure, or is there
something else involved?

2. If this would work, am I likely to realize any cost savings versus
what it's going to cost me (plumbing, may do it myself) to put in the
electric heater?

3. If I'm only using the electric water heater as a storage tank, is
there any other reason to run power to it that would justify the cost
of running a circuit into my utility room? I don't think replacing my
gas heater with the electric will save me enough to justify the costs
of installing it and running power to it, but the jury is still out on
that.

Thanks in advance for any information regarding this. I couldn't find
anything on the internet that says whether this would be a good or bad
idea and why.

Mike