Drip System - Tie Into Cold Supply Or Use Mixing / Tempering Valve?

[tanglovers]

Doing the last few touches before I move the tank and stand into place. This involves the drip system setup.

I have hot and cold water supply lines directly above the tank location. I was originally going to use the cold water supply but then got to thinking about using a mixing or tempering valve to drip hotter water.

System will be around 650 gallons or so, heating will be done with a recirculation loop off my water heater (natural gas). I am planning on starting the drip around 10% per day and increasing if / as needed.

Questions:

From reading it seems like the lowest I can get the tempering valves to adjust down to is 100 degrees. I am planning on keeping the system around 83 degrees so this is not cool enough - thoughts? Maybe there is a different way of doing it.

If I drip cold water then the heater / recirulation pump will run more often making the system less efficient.

What do most of you guys do?

Thanks!

 

[cjfrontlovr]

i recently purchased a hass computer controlled mixing valve that has a hot/cold input with a single output at the temperature you select on the dial..(82 degrees in my case) and i am very happy with it.i was lucky enough to run across one on ebay and got it for a couple hundred bucks or less.in my case, i set the temp at 82 degrees and turn on both hot and cold full blast and water comes out at the desired temperature as fast or slow as you apply the water.i run mine for half hour a day through a carbon whole house filter directly in to the tank.in my sump theres a 2"bulkhead set at the prefered elevation for sump water level so that as the tank fills and the sump begins to fill,the water will automaticly drain into the house sewer system.(through the 2" bulkhead and backflow preventer of course)..

 

[vamptrev]

I just use cold water and my heaters never come on anyway

 

[Egon]

Keep it simple, just use the cold water.

 

[cjfrontlovr]

dripping cold water and then using an aquarium heater to warm it certainly isnt efficient..

 

[dmopar74]

ive dripped cold water for years and have never had a problem nor increased operating costs, especially not enough to negate a $200 piece of equipment.

 

[phillydog1958]

I'd think that using cold water is more energy efficient than using hot.

 

[ScatMan]

if you use hot, the water will likely cool off in the pipes before it even gets to the tank... depending on how fast your drip is, how far it has to go and if you have insulated pipes.

i'm guessing it won't be worth using the hot.

 

[Egon]

if you use hot, the water will likely cool off in the pipes before it even gets to the tank... depending on how fast your drip is, how far it has to go and if you have insulated pipes.

i'm guessing it won't be worth using the hot.

Good point. Also, the same line of thinking, using cold water will most likely heat up to ambient temps before going into the tank.

 

[FishDog]

I dripped with hot water and if you are not within 10 feet of the water heater then the water will cool down. I ran the water hot, set the temp by adjusting hot and cold and within a couple of hours the hot side was running cool. I would recomend just running cold, it is a little cheaper as you do not need any extra valves or fittings.