Stick & Brick Remote Water Heater Control?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

• 
  Present water heater is new 16 gal with old fashioned twist the dial thermostat
• It is a 300' trip
• No lights because no 120vac available
• Meaning ducking two clotheslines, using a flashlight
• Upgrading to a 45 Kg tank
• Supply line to shower is buried bare in 14' concrete
• Meaning for enough hot water for shower it takes max heating of all 16 gallons
• Water heater is a pig it sucks 20 gallons in 3 weeks if left on high 24/7.

Am I spinning my wheels trying to find some kind of wireless or even wired remote thermostat that is a plug-n-play replacement for the grand-double hike manual now in place? I tried one tank's worth trudging through cold pitch black rain and manual shutoff means a 4x savings.

You do not want to know the price of gas or the hassle involved in getting any tank refilled. The owner of the rental just h-a-d to set the "boiler" on the ground with the controls 6" from the concrete. Of course the heater is outside and cold winter winds help suck all the heat out.

If I could "twist the knob" especially after 8:00PM and control it remotely it would save me back and forth trips.

The heater has an old fashioned thermocouple controlled always on pilot light. Don't care about that. Want to adjust the temp up and down. Remember the parts about Pitch Black access, Extensive length of bare hot water pipe buried in concrete. Then at times driving rain 😞

[time2roll]

From the thermostat there should be a small tube to the pilot and a large tube to the main burner. Solenoid would cut gas to the main burner not the thermostat input gas line.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The pilot is manual. Cut off the gas cut off the manual pilot light.

The center heating tube is convection. About the most beautiful heat loss tunnel one can conceive. In intermediary closed loop fluid exchanger that operated via natural thermal circulation would minimize center heat tunnel BTU loss when the heater is resting.

I guess there is no feasible way to overcome this. An RC grade motor operation would need limit switches. Don't forget, twist the thermostat far enough the heater shuts all the way down. Including the pilot light.

I love the one that demands a hundred dollar wifi remote Alexis repeater in order to work. For that kind of money I could hire someone to dash back and forth by blowing a whistle or ringing a bell.

It's the age of worthless accessories...Alexis! ALEXIS! Flush Your Toilet Remotely! Control Your Oven! Vibrate Your Door Mat!

[time2roll]

Consider a solenoid valve to the main burner. Thermostat can be open all night with no gas to the burner until you twist the timer switch.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I have lots of AC inside the house. I would need a Bowden tube about 11' in length. The thermostat itself, the original has to stay on the heater because of the pilot light controls.

Yeah and insulation kit is in the works. Finding one for a 16 gallon heater isn't easy.

Where does one look for a really long Bowden tube and controller? Being disbled someone else must do the installation. What is the effect of having an extra long Bowden tube versus a Delta T more extreme than found inside a house? Like really cold means less pressure inside the tube.

Thank you

[pianotuna]

Hi Mex,

Get a tank insulation kit.

How about a dc operated radio operated relay that would connect and make or break the millivolt circuit?

I have motion detector led lights that operate for about 3 months on a set of 3 AAA batteries. It would be easy to change that to 3 D cells.

[DrewE]

Presumably something could be rigged up with a model airplane servo motor or similar. It would need DC power available. For that matter, a long Bowden cable or other mechanical contrivance could work out.

Insulating the tank more might be nearly as effective and needs no power and is generally less liable to get out of order.