Drip system?
- Thread starter specialized002
- Start date
I have two toilet type valves, Just turn them to whatever I want, Drip emitters are not great to use,
Nice to see you here again Chaz! I have not looked into a mixing valve of any sort..... Do you have any experience with them? Never really heard of anything like this.....
I drip "warm" water. Seems too tough to get the temp right feeding several systems using heavy drips so I just use the drip to help the heat and to cool in the summer. I still use 1.5K watts worth of heaters off a controller for the big tank and double or triple heaters for everything else and hope they don't have to run.
My conclusion - it's a life saver mixing hot and cold cause where I live if power goes out in the winter and you don't have a generator everything's going to die. Clean warm water when the power is out is life support for fish.
I drip "warm" water. Seems too tough to get the temp right feeding several systems using heavy drips so I just use the drip to help the heat and to cool in the summer. I still use 1.5K watts worth of heaters off a controller for the big tank and double or triple heaters for everything else and hope they don't have to run.
My conclusion - it's a life saver mixing hot and cold cause where I live if power goes out in the winter and you don't have a generator everything's going to die. Clean warm water when the power is out is life support for fish.
Any downside or risks in using hot water from your water heater? What if there is a malfunction with the water heater? Does the hot water make your carbon filters wear faster?
How are your gas bills?
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
How are your gas bills?
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Good to see you also! I still stalk your ray posts but I have not posted much in a long time. Sometimes I get burned out on some of the drama that comes up and trying to answer the same question for the hundredth or thousandth time and not getting snippy about myself.
I have not used a mixing valve on a drip system but I have in plumbing work. I think the principal should be sound for a drip system. You see them more in commercial buildings or in long term care facilities where people need to be protected from burning themselves in the tub and such. Basically you plump the hot and cold to the valve then the output to were you need it. Nothing over the set temperature will get through it. I believe there are some that can be set for a minimum and maximum temp. Either way it would probably require a hot return loop back to the heater to make it work for such a low flow rate as a drip system. Might be worth looking into.
I have not used a mixing valve on a drip system but I have in plumbing work. I think the principal should be sound for a drip system. You see them more in commercial buildings or in long term care facilities where people need to be protected from burning themselves in the tub and such. Basically you plump the hot and cold to the valve then the output to were you need it. Nothing over the set temperature will get through it. I believe there are some that can be set for a minimum and maximum temp. Either way it would probably require a hot return loop back to the heater to make it work for such a low flow rate as a drip system. Might be worth looking into.
Yeah you would have to loop it back to the htw to achive the flow rate to make the mixing valve work. If my tank was electric i would do this but comstantly pumping 80f water into a gas tank would be $$$, atleast for me.
Mixing valve is a great idea!! What about the line run? If it's say...5' or so and dripping 1-3gph do you think that by the time it reaches the tank it will have cooled to the air temps? The tank itself is 540 gallons, I have 2 55 gallon drums and a 100 stock tank as a filter, the stock tank is holding about 75 gallons of water and I'm moving about 3800-4k gph. I have a single 800w heater in the stock tank now. Am I moving too much water to try and heat the stock tank which in turn heats the tank? Should I just put the heater in tank? I'm at 74 degrees now, I don't have lids yet but maybe once I get lids the temp will bump up or will I need more wattage?
It would not cost much extra. You would not recirculate the 80 deg water. You would put the return loop just before the valve. The idea is to have hot water at the valve all the time. If you insulate the lines heat loss would be minimal. It will require a circulation pump. It need not have a lot of flow so something like the efficient pumps used for a radiant heat system would work good and cost little to run.
I think it would still work. Might have to try to find out. Also a good place for insulated line.
