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Old 08-08-21, 03:56 PM   #9
jeff5may
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA
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The garage and the basement workbench are both wrecks from hiding everything in sight. This is the month that every distant relative from around the universe decided to come visit. All of the microcontroller stuff and digital measuring instruments are buried under and behind the stuff that didn't make the house look spotless.

I'm running the water pump nonstop today off the extension cord that usually powers the pool filter. Weather underground says it's 88 degF out now, and the uninsulated reservoir has 15 gallons of water in it, plus maybe a quart to get the flow where it needs to be. The reservoir temperature is being measured with the pool thermometer. If I gather any more heat, it'll go off scale at 125.

So, not too bad for peanuts. I used one sheet of polyiso and two stud channels, plus a can of flex seal on this one. Everything else was freebie recycled junk. Somewhat maybe billable materials: black duct tape and an old light duty garden hose, leftover garden hose ends and copper sweat fittings.

EDIT: Being the hopeless tinkerer, I couldn't help myself. I slapped a layer of Mylar over the glass to see if it would help retain the heat. Just a little test, and it worked! I drove the pool thermometer above 125. Yayyy, that'll definitely preheat bathroom water.

Next up, the bigger, lighter Mylar version. I'll be using a gutter style drain for that one. A garden hose is barely big enough for the little one to not clog up or overflow. If two aren't enough, I've got a lot more fence area available.
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Last edited by jeff5may; 08-08-21 at 05:08 PM..
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