Hot Water Heat

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
Awesome build and thanks for sharing it with us. I put it on my endless to do list.

I think that it could also be a good heat backup for periods when the hydro goes down. The large volume of hot water may help for a while. All considering that you have the pump and the controller on a UPS. And of course you don't use the water for showers. :)

You mentioned that "current average went from 4.8 amps with heaters to .01 amps with the pump". Is there a typo? 0.01 amps seems very low for an 85W pump.

This is a screenshot of my EB8 which runs the heatpump and my ato pump, denitrator solenoid and backup heater.
 

Lucifa

New Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Location
Pickering, Ontario
Update!
I had to change the circulating pump for the hot water because the cast one was rusting and discoloring the water, so I installed this one from homedepot.
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchView?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&langId=-15&N=0&Ntt=hot water recirculating pump&Nty=1&D=hot water recirculating pump&Ntx=mode matchallpartial&Dx=mode matchallpartial&s=true
Unfortunately it only comes as a kit so I got a bunch of stuff I didn't need, also I removed the timer and wired it direct with a power cord and plugged it into my Apex.
The coil is over sized for my system which is about 200 gals total, which is located in the basement where it is relatively cool, the coil could have probably been half the size.
My current average went from 4.8 amps with heaters to .01 amps with the pump, there was no appreciable change in our gas bill but our hydro bill was @ $40 lower than the same period last year and the only thing different is the elimination of the electric heaters.
The total cost to build was under $300 and could have been less if I sourced the parts better but still it should pay for itself in less than a year. Wife is really happy to get a hydro bill under $200 and I am really pleased with the performance, I have one electric heater as backup set to turn on 1 degree below my normal setpoint but it has not turned on even once.
All in all I am very happy and wish I had done this a lot sooner.

Hi Pistol, you said that you removed the timer, was that hard to do??????

thanks lucifa
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
Hi Pistol, you said that you removed the timer, was that hard to do??????

thanks lucifa
wasn't difficult, remove the 2 screws holding the cover on, cut the white and black wires on the power cord at the connectors, release the 2 yellow wires from the terminal block and remove the timer, strip 3/8" from the white and black wires and insert them in the terminal block, black to "L" and white to "N". (pull back the little white levers on the terminal block to release and insert the wires)
 

Lucifa

New Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Location
Pickering, Ontario
wasn't difficult, remove the 2 screws holding the cover on, cut the white and black wires on the power cord at the connectors, release the 2 yellow wires from the terminal block and remove the timer, strip 3/8" from the white and black wires and insert them in the terminal block, black to "L" and white to "N". (pull back the little white levers on the terminal block to release and insert the wires)

thanks, did you get the check valve from homedepot????? any idea where mite be able to get a pump by itself????
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
thanks, did you get the check valve from homedepot????? any idea where mite be able to get a pump by itself????
I think I got the check valve from lowes, you could check online for a pump or a plumbing wholesaler
 

RYOUNVS

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Location
Kerwood, Ontario
Awesome build! I'm going to need to do this for sure. I have a boiler/HWH combo unit that heats the rest of my house and has a 90,000 btuh burner on it. A regular water heater is 33,000 Btuh's so I for sure will have the capacity.

I have one question though. When your Apex stops calling for heat, it would shut the pump off thus not allowing flow of hot water going through the line. Do you find that the hot water that is already in the loop will bring the water temperature of the sump up higher than you want? Or do you just have it shut off a degree or 2 below what you ACTUALLY want?
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
Awesome build! I'm going to need to do this for sure. I have a boiler/HWH combo unit that heats the rest of my house and has a 90,000 btuh burner on it. A regular water heater is 33,000 Btuh's so I for sure will have the capacity.

I have one question though. When your Apex stops calling for heat, it would shut the pump off thus not allowing flow of hot water going through the line. Do you find that the hot water that is already in the loop will bring the water temperature of the sump up higher than you want? Or do you just have it shut off a degree or 2 below what you ACTUALLY want?
I built my loop too large, prob twice the size it should be but I have 200 gal of water so it`s not bad, @ 0.5 degrees overshoot, I also have the valve almost closed to limit the flow of hot water thru the coil.
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
Not sure if you mentioned this but how far of a run is it from your sump to the hot water heater?
It's about 10 feet away but I don't think that distance is much of a factor, getting the coil the right size is important though.
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
I have about 50 feet in the coil, 20 feet would prob would have been plenty.
 

Pipes

Active Member
Joined
May 21, 2015
Location
Ingersoll
Hot water heat is a great way to go. If you have radient floor heat then all you need to do is tie in an extra loop with a thermostat. Watch your temp though. If your looking into this consider oxygen barrier pex pipe it's less likely to leach.
 

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
What happens is someone uses all the hot water up :)

Happens with my family enough ;)
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
I keep an electric heater in the sump set 1 degree lower just in case, it has not turned on yet.
Also I have my Apex set to email me if that heater outlet does turn so I'll know if there's no hot water.
 

Themaddhatter

New Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Location
Guelph, Ontario
I always wanted to do this.. Hell, I fix water heaters and boilers for a living. Just haven't had my tank close enough to the water heater . how's it working for you, pistol?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

Pistol

Super Active Member
Donor
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Location
Corunna
Works great, flawlessly, only runs for a couple minutes at a time, my coil is a bit overkill but it doesn't matter. I have about a .3 degree differential, I could be 50 feet away from the water heater and it wouldn't matter, just might have to run a few seconds longer. I went from an average of 4 amps to .01 amps, the snapshot of my eb3 on the first page is actually when I was testing and was running the electric heaters and the hot water at the same time, I forgot to take a snapshot of the eb3 with just the heaters but it was like 4.2 amps average.
 

Poseidon

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 15, 2012
Location
SW Ontario
im doing this... my heater is gas as well. ( so is my dryer, my stove my bbq lol)
its about 50 ft away from the sump be easily plumbed as the basements not finish
thanks for sharing Pistol, super helpful!
 

Salty Cracker

Administrator
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Location
Rocky Mountains BC
Could you just wrap the coil in something if leeching was a concern? Like a plastic bag even?

So the hot water from the loop just goes down the drain? I only ask since they charge $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for water here in town, so it would have to be factored into the cost equation.

I have a setup on my pool that I am dismantling...a solenoid system with a thermostat for a solar panel. If this was done with regular pressure lines on the house, would a circ pump even be needed? Or just the solenoid allowing hot water to the loop, then down a drain?
 
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