Heat Loss/retention

[Salty Cracker]

So on the 125 I am setting up in the basement, I find that even with 4 heaters (200W - 400w) running full time, I can't get temps up to 78 deg until the temps outside rise to 0 or above, and with much less wattage upstairs, the tank has no problem with heaters. So I'm going to step up my efforts on building the stand and canopy, and see if that helps keep the heat in, and also the insane amount of evap I've been experiencing.

I also plan to implement the hot-water heating system mentioned elsewhere on the site, but not until summer, and not until I see how bad wynnee is going to hit our gas bill...

 

[Cliff]

Have you tried putting a sheet of SM insulation under your sump? When I had my tank in the basement and my large sump tank on the concrete floor it was nearly impossible to keep temperatures are in the wintertime. One sheet of Styrofoam made a huge difference

 

[shamous113]

you could also wrap the sump in sm insulation.

 

[EricTMah]

I use sheets of insulation under and on three sides of my sump. I've got close to 250gals total water volume and my three 300w heaters barely run. Even on the coldest of days.

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[thehvacman]

You really shouldn't expect the heaters raise the temp of your tank more than 6 degrees F above household temperatures. (Heater don't last long when you run them at a 10 degree difference). So you need to keep your house at 72 or 73. Keeping your furnace fan running continuously will prevent the cold air from falling and staying in the basement. And definitely insulate any tank that is touching a cold surface.

 

[chrisstevens]

When i added my frag tank to my system(200gal tank, 75gal sump40 gal frag tank) in the basement my 300watt wouldn't keep the tank at setpoint got another 300w and it can keep it at set point but they do seem to be on quite often. Time to finished and insulate the basement i guess.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I've got the sump air gapped to the floor, plus a sheet of pink, plus a sheet pf ply. I really think it's just the wide open everything that is doing it. We'll see, started skinning the tank with plywood. Will add in nice trim and whatnot later, haven't decided on a look yet.

I keep the house at 66 in winter, and the tank at 78, has never been a issue before, yes the tank in in a new location (and I do run fan on furnace 24/7), but as a comparison, I'm evaporating 5 gallons of water per day in the new tank, and only maybe 2 gallons in the existing tank. That's got to translate into some crazy heat loss too.

 

[thehvacman]

If you keep your house at 66 then your basement is probably 64 and that is way too much to ask of a heater, they will never shut off, as you said is happening.Also when you keep your house that cold it will be equally dry as air can only hold so much moisture. When the cold 64 degree air in your basement contacts the air around your tank it adsorbes a crazy amount of moisture as that air at 64 is very dry. The larger the temperature difference is the quiker the air will adsorb the moisture. You probably never noticed before because you were setup upstairs.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Well some insane heat/hydro bills have made us cut back, house used to be 22 in winter and 24 in summer... $450 per month hydro "budget", with a $1600 catchup bill. Part of the reason for bringing the tank down was to combat high temps in the summer.
For winter I plan to run a solenoid from the hot water tank once the apex is running (so I can add a secondary shutoff and alarm) and hopefully never need the heaters. I've got a chamber in the sump set for it, hot water tank is only about 20 feet away.

Otherwise we're moving out of province to escape this crazy bitch that's wrecking the place and putting up windmills.

 

[dale]

i got furnace air pointed at my sump.. my heater barely ever turns on.. my tank temp is only 75-76* though..

 

[thehvacman]

Well some insane heat/hydro bills have made us cut back, house used to be 22 in winter and 24 in summer... $450 per month hydro "budget", with a $1600 catchup bill. Part of the reason for bringing the tank down was to combat high temps in the summer.
For winter I plan to run a solenoid from the hot water tank once the apex is running (so I can add a secondary shutoff and alarm) and hopefully never need the heaters. I've got a chamber in the sump set for it, hot water tank is only about 20 feet away.

Otherwise we're moving out of province to escape this crazy bitch that's wrecking the place and putting up windmills.

Totally! The cost to keep everything running on hydro is getting out of control. My bills are massive too I still somehow justify it in my head, and it's worth it.

 

[Cliff]

500 W finex barely shuts off now with the bigger tank. It used to be off the majority of the time until I upgraded. I am pretty sure that constant running a 500 W heater is going to wreck my Hydro bill

 

[Nonuser]

In my apartment everything is included. I have to open the patio door about a foot so I don't melt.

 

[Salty Cracker]

As a landlord I hate you.

 

[Cliff]

Lol

 

[Bigfish]

How old is your furnace/windows and how is your home's insulation? Your hydro bills sound ridiculously high! I've got roughly a 3000 sq' house with a 120g reef and hot tub running and my last bill was just over $200 In the summer with AC running and a 8000gph pond pump running full time I believe we are around $250-$300 House is only 12 years old, but I already upgraded to a top of the line furnace and AC, and added more attic insulation than code requires and also double insulated all my joist pockets. I found it helped quite a bit. That being said, I work in the HVAC industry so replacing the furnace and AC, was relatively cheap for me. If you have an older furnace, that doesn't have an ECM blower, that could be costing quite a bit to run full time.
P.s. not trying to say hydro rates arn't ridiculous and Wynne isn't a pos crooked bitch, lol! I did the upgrades because our bills were constantly going up and if I was getting $450 Monthly hydro bills, I think I would have already thrown the for sale sign up! Although every time the property tax bill shows up, I consider doing that anyway!

 

[Salty Cracker]

I have a 3 year old goodman furnace, and AC. Bills come from hot tub, pool, 2 kids, fish tank...

I have topped up insulation in attic, windows are original (1984), but the issues is that even replacing furnace, installing motion sensor lights, timers, LEDS etc etc my hydro rates have doubled in 10 years. Water is on our hydro bills, and while my usage is ~$25 a month, the bill is almost $100. Make that over $200 in the summer when watering, filling pool etc.

So while I used to get a $50 water bill and a $250 electricity bill, I'm now getting a $200 water bill and a $500 electricity bill. Wynne is out of her freakin mind. She isn't done upping rates yet either, or taxing the new rates...

 

[Salty Cracker]

The only thing I was even thinking of adding (besides replacing windows) was one of those lifebreath things. Guy around the corner absolutely swears by it for keeping condensation off windows, I've always been a bit of a skeptic...

 

[Bigfish]

Wynne is absolutely nuts! Pretty sure at this point she is just trying to see how much worse she can make things before she gets booted. I can't see any possible way she could get elected again unless she pays off enough of the private sector. Arn't those lifebreath things just hepa filters?

 

[shamous113]

ouch our bill has never been that high. Last year mid summer was $100 water bill and 275 hydro. we have 5 kids,pool and ac running. the fish tank wasn't running at that time but I've only seen a $60 increase of water/hydro combined since it's been running. our house was built 1928 and still has half of the original windows and 1 original door. With the big raises that their trying to push thru for the hydro execs and ceo's I don't see our hydro bills doping any time soon