Idea for simplified water tank heating -- need your advice
This stems from a brilliant project posted by SteveAE over on the boondocking forum, to keep the tank from freezing. His project involved a solenoid that controlled the flow of hot water into the outlet pipe of the tank.
My idea is much more crude (and much easier for the non-technical person). Imagine a tee coming off the hot water line that runs to the sink. Imagine a hand-controlled valve at that tee. From the tee, run a line to the cold water intake filler pipe, which is just a gravity feed tube down to the tank.
In the late evening on a cold night, turn on the water heater (if it is not already on). Once the water is hot, open the valve at the tee and run several gallons of hot water into the fresh water tank. (The tank should be insulated -- I have reflectix over it, but I think I will add more insulation.)
This crude solution warms the tank. The downside is that it is a one-shot deal before bedtime -- nobody is going to get up and do this in the middle of the night. Steve's solution is temperature-controlled -- no human needs to lift a finger.
So that is my question -- what do you think of this amateurish work-around? I wanted to get your thoughts, both pro and con, before I cut into my water lines!
Obviously, this is not going to work for sub-zero temps -- the tank will freeze no matter what. But we have discovered that our water lines don't freeze in the 20 degree range, although they will freeze at 11 degrees. Please don't ask how I discovered this threshold.
I look forward to your comments!
(By the way, this is for boondocking -- if we had hookups, I would just install heat tape and be done with it.)
My idea is much more crude (and much easier for the non-technical person). Imagine a tee coming off the hot water line that runs to the sink. Imagine a hand-controlled valve at that tee. From the tee, run a line to the cold water intake filler pipe, which is just a gravity feed tube down to the tank.
In the late evening on a cold night, turn on the water heater (if it is not already on). Once the water is hot, open the valve at the tee and run several gallons of hot water into the fresh water tank. (The tank should be insulated -- I have reflectix over it, but I think I will add more insulation.)
This crude solution warms the tank. The downside is that it is a one-shot deal before bedtime -- nobody is going to get up and do this in the middle of the night. Steve's solution is temperature-controlled -- no human needs to lift a finger.
So that is my question -- what do you think of this amateurish work-around? I wanted to get your thoughts, both pro and con, before I cut into my water lines!
Obviously, this is not going to work for sub-zero temps -- the tank will freeze no matter what. But we have discovered that our water lines don't freeze in the 20 degree range, although they will freeze at 11 degrees. Please don't ask how I discovered this threshold.
I look forward to your comments!
(By the way, this is for boondocking -- if we had hookups, I would just install heat tape and be done with it.)
