View Single Post
Old 08-20-12, 10:47 AM   #133
AC_Hacker
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
AC_Hacker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 4,004
Thanks: 303
Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer View Post
Today, it's been about 18 days since we started our measurements.
Have you considered getting one or two hundred feet or so of PEX and fastening it slinky-style onto your attic rafters? and running your cold water that is now feeding your DHW through this loop before it hits your water heater?

In the simplest form, you could leave it at that and let city water pressure pump the water through.

In a more involved form, you could get a cheap used DHW to use as a pre-heat tank and use a small circulator pump in that circuit, either time or temp controlled (maybe both).

As I calculate it, 100' of half inch PEX = 212.65 cubic inches volume, and a gallon = 231 cubic inches, so probably, the circulator/pre-heat tank approach would be best... yeah about 300 feet of PEX and a circulator tank... that's the ticket. (1/2" x 300ft NSF Red PEX Tubing Pipe Potable Water = $69.98 free shipping)

You did say that the temp in the attic is ALWAYS higher than your incoming city water, right?

-AC
__________________
I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...

Last edited by AC_Hacker; 08-20-12 at 10:58 AM..
AC_Hacker is offline   Reply With Quote