Water Heater

batfishdog37 · 04-02-2009, 04:54 PM

Has anyone had any experience with point of use water heaters? I was thinking one may work to deliver mash/sparge water pre-heated. What I don't know is how hot they actually can get to and if it is possible to set specific temps for the water to be at. My current method of heating my strike water and sparge water is in my kettle and measuring the temp with a hand-held thermometer. I was thinking this would be more consistent and easier. Thanks for any help.

**david_42** · 04-02-2009, 05:09 PM

Point of use heaters are just small water heaters, like those used in RVs. Most of them will be limited to 145F or less as a safety measure.

batfishdog37 · 04-02-2009, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david_42

Point of use heaters are just small water heaters, like those used in RVs. Most of them will be limited to 145F or less as a safety measure.

thanks, that's kind of what I thought.

**Bobby_M** · 04-02-2009, 06:04 PM

Well, there are two types of use. One use is bathrooms for which the temp would max out to 140f. There are also point of use heaters for instant hot water. You'll see them in cafeterias and break rooms for instant coffee and tea use. They're usually hard plumbed to the cold water supply with copper tubing. The temp rise is fine but I don't think the flow rate is suitable for strike water. They're really meant to deliver a cup's worth of 195F in intervals.

**Bernie Brewer** · 04-02-2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

Well, there are two types of use. One use is bathrooms for which the temp would max out to 140f. There are also point of use heaters for instant hot water. You'll see them in cafeterias and break rooms for instant coffee and tea use. They're usually hard plumbed to the cold water supply with copper tubing. The temp rise is fine but I don't think the flow rate is suitable for strike water. They're really meant to deliver a cup's worth of 195F in intervals.

Sounds like an ideal flow rate for fly sparging, albeit a bit warm.

Edit: nevermind. After a bit of thinking, which I should do more of,

I realized that he'd have to sit there and hit a button after every cup to restart the flow. Duh.....

batfishdog37 · 04-02-2009, 07:29 PM

I was thinking about gathering the desired volume of hot strike water and then mashing in. Assuming by the time the mash tun filled it would still be at the appropriate temp to allow for heat loss after adding the grains(ect..ect). But if it only comes out 1 cup at a time it would be stupid. Can this feature be adjusted I wonder to a continuous flow? Or "hacked" in some way?

**wilserbrewer** · 04-02-2009, 08:18 PM

I think the point here is that the point of use heater is basicly the same electric element you would mount in the tun. If it takes 45 min for 2000 watts to heat 6 gallons in the tun, it will also take 45 min for a 2000 watt point of use heater to fill 6 gallons in the tun.

Watts are watts, whether you are applying the power to all your water, or just a stream of it, it will basicly take the same amount of time to achieve temp. Nothing for free in this world.

On demand hot water heaters are nice, but to get a considerable flow I believe you need a more powerful gas unit.

**Bobby_M** · 04-02-2009, 09:21 PM

I was suggesting the wattage of the unit is more designed for how many cups of "tea" water you'd want to get out of it over the course of an hour.

Water Heater Related Products - PlumbingSupply.com
# Capacity: 1/2 Gallon (1.9L). Up to 60 cups per hour
# Temperature Range: Adjustable, from 140°F to 190°F (60°C to 88°C)
# Heating Element: 780 Watts, 6.5 Amps, 115 Volts, 60 Hz

Even the larger commercial units are about $500 for a 100-cup per hour model. You can build an electric HLT for $150.