Preheating water by running pipes through attic?

[RVer Don]

It was in Storey County, Nevada until the feds shut down Joe Conforte's Mustang Ranch a few years ago.

Don

[Robert Scott]

Where is "here" exactly?

OK, so if ice dams and air conditioning costs are not an issue with you, then look at the cost/benefit ratio. You can't run potable water directly through an automotive radiator, so you are probably stuck with a large number of home heating-type fin tubes. Without active air circulation, they are going to be very inefficient, so you will need lots and lots of them just to erase maybe 1/4 of your domestic water heating bill. What do you pay now for water heating? $15 a month? So you might save $4 a month with your inside attic collector. If the fin tubes plus installation cost you $1000, then you will just break even after 20 years.

On the other hand, if you installed a real solar collector outside the roof, a much smaller unit could deliver more heat, and it could deliver that heat year-round, instead of just in the summer, as with your in-attic collector. Most of the heat the falls on your roof gets conducted away by the wind. What remains has to travel through the insulating properties of the wood sheathing. Then it has to transfer to air without the benefit of active circulation, then it has to transfer again into your "collector". A collector on the roof prevents much of the wind-conducted losses and avoids two air-to-solid heat transfers. About the only benefit to the inside collector, as was pointed out by earlier posters in this thread, would be to disguise the collector for appearance sake.

Robert Scott Ypsilanti, Michigan

[J. Clarke]

It still is in Storey County, Nevada. In fact the branch of the Feds that shut it down was the IRS and the charge was tax evasion and the IRS continued to run it for a while. There was even a "60 minutes" story on it while it was being run by the IRS (I suspect that the embarrassment of finding that the US government was running a bordello had something to do with its being shut down).

And Mustang Ranch is back in operation under new ownership--the land it was on belongs to the Bureau of Land Management now so the new owners moved the buildings about 5 miles down the road.

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

Western Ireland.

Or a heat exchanger between water running through a car radiator and potable water, perhaps a second coil in the tank.

I was wondering about cheaply glazing the roof.

What wood sheathing ? Roofs round here are tiles on felt on wood frame.

It may well not work out as feasible - but it's an interesting possibility to explore a bit.

[Bob F]

One issue, if you live in high humidity areas is that you may get condensation which could cause all sorts of damage.

[Ron]

I live in Fl. I had my home replumbed a few yrs ago and the pipes are in the attic. They wrapped the "cold" water pipe with foam rubber in case of condensation.

I have to wait FOREVER to get cold water to flow, because the water sitting in that "cold" water plastic pipe (I assume it's PEX) even with the foam wrapped around it heats up and gets VERY hot.

I would NEVER purposely plumb a home like that. Hell, I can't even wash clothes with cold water!

[LouB]

Geeze. I am also in Fl and the water from the underground pipe is close to 80 in the summer.

Lou

[PETRA]

Hello, If do you have any problem which is related to home renovation so think happy without any stress because there are many relatives home constructors and builders who is provide a good service you should contact them. Thanks

[Robert Scott]

No matter how much insulation is wrapped around a pipe, if the water sits long enough it will acquire the same temperature as the attic air around it.

The purpose of the insulation was not to keep the water cold so that it would be cold when you use it. It was, as you said, to protect against condensation dripping from the pipes and ruining your ceiling.

Robert Scott Ypsilanti, Michigan

[Ron]

That's what I said.