Using old electric water heater as tempering tank?
have a colder basement, which could convert to a cooler home.
Joseph Meehan is right! I've been "surfing" this topic today (looking for a cheap tempering tank) and the one thing they all seem to have in common is ignoring the fact that a tempering tank has to get the heat from SOMEWHERE and if that source is the heating system of the house you get a zero sum situation, HOWEVER, if you heat the tank using some sort of solar or geothermal source, (or ambient air OUTSIDE your home) you get a positive result. Back in the 1970's a bunch of us college students (Salt Lake City Solar Energy Society - morphed into Utah Solar Energy Society) made an extensive research project out of solar energy. The long and short of it is, a simple box with a transparent cover and any sort of energy transfer system will produce a theoretical gain of about 1BTU per square foot of collector surface. The better the cover, the better the adsorber, the better the transfer medium - the higher the efficiency and the more "heat" you gain. ALSO, the "accepted" concept of thermal siphon has it backward. Don't bother trying to designate top or bottom of tank for (working fluid) input/output. The flow will run what ever direction it wants to - depending on which "leg' is hotter. Try this simple experiment. Take a (metal) coffee can (or "number ten tin") and braze/silver solder a drop loop (about 2' should do) of copper tubing such that it is physically lower than the can. One end goes into the side near the bottom of the can and the other end into the side near the top. Fill the system with water and heat the tubing. (A bit of food color will help you see the action) Then move the heat source from one "leg" to the other and watch the direction of flow - just for the fun of it, move the heat source to the CENTER BOTTOM of the loop. Finally, move the leg from the top of the can to a position at the bottom matching the first leg and repeat the experiment. If top and bottom are your only choice, so be it - but if you have a choice, both legs in the bottom is best. (Of course, take your output from the top and put the inlet at the bottom, standard water heater style). Questions/ comments welcome
Posted 5 years ago by Gabby_Jim_41 in Home Repair
