Why exactly can't we use Hot water on a Drip System?

[DIDYSIS]

1200 watts of heaters on my system, 265 watt of pump, normally will cost (used a killawatt tester to check) 500.00 a year to keeep the system warm and running, with the drip I have cut the cost in half, water usage overall has not made any difference and also the gas bill has not seen any increase. Dripping cold water into my system only will increase that 500.00 to over 750.00 because of how much more the heaters have to run to heat that cold water up vs letting it keep the tank warm, honestly my hot water heater runs no extra. Thats allot of money to spend on heating water up, if you want though ill take the tester and plug it in and test it for anyone to see the differences and give real numbers with photos of the watts and overall power usage. Its a large difference.

X2

 

[West1]

I still hold on my dream of having my Dream Tank... My dream tank would also have the best filteration that fits me. So I would like to use my current tanks as my guides

With that, is there something along the line of having both hot and cold lines merge to one line with a built in (or DIY) Temp to know the degree's going to your tank?

Not a plumber so you all may know better... I keep finding commercial grade Temp Controls

 

[Dan F]

I use straight cold on my constant-change system, but when I do a gravel-vac I replace with mixed hot/cold.

The main problem I can see with a warm drip is that it will be a waste of energy if the tank is not right next to the water heater. If you are dripping at a relatively low rate - a gallon or two per hour - then the hot water will have cooled down a lot (if not completely) by the time it reaches the tank if it has more than a few feet of piping to go through.

 

[Dan F]

Also, what you are asking about is called a "tempering valve". Again, though, unless you are flowing more than a trickle the hot water will lose a lot of its heat energy before it even gets to the valve.

 

[West1]

My water heater is in the Laundry room, which is one wall away from the tank (about 10-12').

The valve, just thinking out loud... something that would have a water temp indicator... say 2-3' away from the merge of the two connections (just an example). Im guessing after knowing your system and having a Temp on the tank, the user would know the degrees from the connection and the tank.

Im just thinking things up and scratching peoples brain to get passed the thoughts. This way If/When I go bigger, I will have most of my setup down

 

[DIDYSIS]

Very good point, with my hot and cold drip going I drip about 2 times as much hot as cold. My water heater is kinda close to my tank, water lines would total about 40 feet max up down and around to the tank. Good note though is in the winter I always have a drip going and the pipes even when it was super super cold the last month plus and everyones pipes were busting Ill never have an issue. For a good size smaller tank I do not think a hot water drip would be as good as it in with my system.

I use straight cold on my constant-change system, but when I do a gravel-vac I replace with mixed hot/cold.

The main problem I can see with a warm drip is that it will be a waste of energy if the tank is not right next to the water heater. If you are dripping at a relatively low rate - a gallon or two per hour - then the hot water will have cooled down a lot (if not completely) by the time it reaches the tank if it has more than a few feet of piping to go through.

 

[coyotethug]

I am looking at about 1000 gallon system in basement with constant drip from hot water to limit operational costs and keep parameters constant. With air temp of 65 in basement it takes a lot of electric to heat that amount of water. I have a chiller I can hook up just in case and set it to 82. What does everyone think. I was only going to run one plastic drip line from hot water, plastic should insulate water enough to avoid drop over 25 ft distance to tank.

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