Hot water drip

[nzafi]

Wondering who with a drip does a hot water drip and how. Right now I’m doing a cold water drip to my 180g at about 2gph. It has definitely impacted how much my heaters turn on. I’m planning a 500g tank and was thinking of doing a hot water drip from my water heater which is nearby. This way it helps to heat the tank but also if my power goes out the tank will remain heated. Guess my questions are:
1) is this hard to do
2) does this have a big impact the water heater life. Wanted to drip about 3-4gph (72-96gpd). My water heater is a 65g unit but I’m worried doing this will shorten the life.
3) when you run a heated drip do you bother with heaters in the tank? I want to run a closed loop and I’m struggling with where to hide the heaters.

 

[justarn]

I would be worried about the unstable temps of the water going in for 1 and I'm sure most will agree you need to run heaters aswell just in case.
I ran a drip for a while from a Holding tank in my loft, it turns out the water in said tanks had brown algae in them and somehow caused a massive bacteria bloom.... Overnight my water turned to a milky colour and I lost several fish.
I'm still not 100% sure what happened but I certainly will only use cool fresh water for drips if I attempted it again.
How will you declorinate?

 

[twentyleagues]

You could do this. I have no idea how much this will effect temp. I have my drip setup and ready to go. It's heated using a thermal regulating valve I have it set to 80f. I'm basically using it for water changes right now. Mine runs through a sediment filter and 2 carbon filters before going to the tank to take care of any sediment from the hotwater heater and chlorine and chloramines.

 

[nzafi]

justarn my current cold drip goes a sediment, chlorine, chloramine filter. I would use the same for a heated drip.

twentyleagues does this put a lot of strain on the water heater? I will need heaters as back up but instead of jumping to like ~1000 watts of heaters I wanted to stick to my 650w. Was thinking this might be doable in a room that is heated to 70, acrylic tank, and heated drip.

 

[nzafi]

JK47 you do a heated drip i think.

 

[JK47]

JK47 you do a heated drip i think.

Correct. I run a Honeywell thermostatic mixing valve. They aren’t cheap but you get what you pay for and this is a critical component in system health. From the valve forward it is the normal sediment the carbon block filtration.




Mixing valves (along with most other approaches) requires a minimum gallon per hour flow to maintain temp. Too slow and it will negate the function of the valve.

Also consider distance, type of line as well as diameter. I run RO lines in 1/4”, that is by far the best combo I’ve found. Easy to pack some insulation over the lines as well yet I haven’t felt the need.




I would also recommend having some ways to swap out emitters with larger flow capacity to find your sweet spot of flow, temp and minimal waste. I prefer to build manifolds adjustable from 1 to 16 GPH.



These valves are better suited for multiple tank designs IMO. Hope that helps you man

 

[nzafi]

JK47 what is it you for a living? Plumber? Whatever you do puts my ideas to shame. I look at what you have done, decide it too complex and decide I should figure something else out. Lol

 

[Mr Pleco]

to the OP what is your desired tank temp.? What is you avg ambient room temp? I run cold straight from tap through carbon blocks .. I use a timer in order to limit amount of water being dripped.. instead of a constant drip during winter my drip turns on every 12 hours , depending on size of tank 10 gals to 20 gals every 12 hours is exchanged ... During the winter my house is usually around 70f and tanks are 75 to 76 f .. no real heater concerns as tanks stay fairly stable..

 

[twentyleagues]

I don't know if it does or not. I wouldn' think anymore then an extra shower or two.

 

[JK47]

JK47 what is it you for a living? Plumber? Whatever you do puts my ideas to shame. I look at what you have done, decide it too complex and decide I should figure something else out. Lol

Thanks man! I manage distribution centers for a living, no plumbing experience. I do a lot of my work with my son so I like to teach him to take pride in his work. Most kids think they will be a rich programmer.. I want mine to take pride in whatever they do.