Hot Water for Brewhaus Question

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EdWort

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I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to handle getting hot water in my brewhaus. I'm looking at two options. Both are tankless.

Here's the first. It's propane powered.
http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/HeatingProducts/WaterHeating/AquaStar1/AquaStar1000pmain.asp

Here's the second. It's electric.
http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/...1-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater/5642/Cat/474

The propane is about twice as much and requires venting, but the electric is pretty simple.

Anyone want to provide some pros & cons. I'm concerned about the venting on the propane unit, but other than that, I would like to go that route.
 
It almost seems like there is nothing wrong with the electric one. I would think the only reason to use propane would be for places where you don't have electricity. (man that sounds really dumb) Since you wont be needing a high flow it seems like the electric heater is not only cheaper but the better fit for your application.
 
What is the estimated operating cost? The in-laws were just quoted a painful amount for 900 Gallons of propane (they live on a farm and have the ginormus tank outside) and are considering switching their furnace and water heater over to electric which they expect to cost less to run.
 
My uncle has an electric one on his new house, the thing works great. He's a tightwad and he says it is cheaper to use than the regular hot water tank he had in his old house.
 
Go with the on-demand electric. It'll be much more economical, much less hassle.
 
It seems like the electric is cheaper to install and operate however it is much less powerful than the propane one you are looking at. The propane heater will produce close to 2gpm where the electric will only produce about 0.4gpm at the same temp. Your ground water is probably warm enough that you can get close to 0.5gpm out of the electric at a good temp but not any more. With the electric you are limited by the 25amp 110V power unless you go to a 220V unit which is much more expensive and will cost more to install.

Craig
 
I've decided to beef up my power line to feed 100 amp to the brewhaus so I can buy a 220 volt tankless water heater. Propane would be nice, but it looks to be a royal PIA for installation & venting. I should be able to get a decent water heater for about a couple hundred bucks.

The extra power will come in handy for the two freezers needed for fermenting like John Beere's rig.
 
where you are located you can also put up a solar water heater. they are relatively inexpensive and can offset the cost of running either electric or propane. well bring the cost down dramatically. several ways this can be done in a home brew sense.

i can try to find the links to some homebrew sites for solar heating if you would like.

image_view_fullscreen


doesnt look like i can link an img so http://www.byexample.com/library/illustrations/hotwater/illus_hotwater_3.jpg/image_view_fullscreen there ya go.
 
I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to handle getting hot water in my brewhaus. I'm looking at two options. Both are tankless./QUOTE]

Have you considered a solar hot water heater? They work very very well, even up way north. My father used to use one on his vacation home. While his home is in a very southern region, it produced water so hot (and for free) that it will scold... and that heater was 15 years old. It produced enough hot water for all our house guests to shower in the morning within an hour or so (8-10 people). Also - the water stays very very hot almost all night because it is pumped into an insulated hot water tank.

You can easily build one using materials from home depot.

We only switched to a regular hot water heater because a hurricane blew the old one off and getting electric wasn't a problem anymore (they had since run electric to the area of the house).
 
I would love to put a gas one in or a Rinnai, but they are out of my budget. I'll spend about $200 bucks on one, but not a grand. The darn power line to the brewhaus is going to run about $500 and that's just the spool of AWG #3 wire.
 
If it was me, I'd do the solar. You don't know a plumber do you? Sometimes they have parts that are still useful, that can be reinstalled...
 
Getting ready to close on a home that needs part (maybe all) of the roof replaced and have been SERIOUSLY looking at solar alternatives. The wife and I are pretty green and since the roof needs work anyway...
 
An interesting aside. I visited a new brewery opened by a local award-winning homebrewer recently. They use tankless water heaters instead of a HLT for on-demand sparge water. Pretty cool.
 
if your going to do a solar heater. get a old hot water heater with a sound tank. clean it using clr. after clean check to make sure no leaks and the tank will still hold pressure.

to insulate use a blanket type insulation and box it in just like you would a normal hot water heater. this would be perfect with a supplemental spot water heater.

to make the passive portion for roof mount you only need to create a box painted black inside. use copper tubing for your coil. and plumb recirculation in and out to the passive heater and the storage tank. one other thing, make sure you also put on a tempering valve so you can set the outflow max temp.
 
An interesting aside. I visited a new brewery opened by a local award-winning homebrewer recently. They use tankless water heaters instead of a HLT for on-demand sparge water. Pretty cool.

That's what I'm thinking about. With that, I can eliminate my HLT and the burner associated with it. Hmmm.
 
if your going to do a solar heater. get a old hot water heater with a sound tank. clean it using clr. after clean check to make sure no leaks and the tank will still hold pressure.

to insulate use a blanket type insulation and box it in just like you would a normal hot water heater. this would be perfect with a supplemental spot water heater.

to make the passive portion for roof mount you only need to create a box painted black inside. use copper tubing for your coil. and plumb recirculation in and out to the passive heater and the storage tank. one other thing, make sure you also put on a tempering valve so you can set the outflow max temp.

I've been reading up on passive solar and it seems pretty straighfoward for a handy DYI'er like myself. Was just reading up on it in this month's Mother Earth News actually. Any links or resources you might have would be appreciated. :D
 
I also agree on the solar plan...you could get a solar panel for the roof... i imagine Texas would have no problems providing enough sun to power it. plus it can both heat water and provide electricity all at once. also they sell home sized geothermal plants. they are prolly a bit pricey... but you could heat water for your normal house as well with the same unit i imagine.
 
EdWort,

I am considering using a tankless water heater or small tank water heater myself, also to eliminate the HLT.
My concern is the max temp that these inexpansive bad boys can put out. All of the units I have inspected (HD and Lowes, so far) have a max temp cut out below 170 degrees F (sparge water temp). It'd be nice to have the max temp a little higher.
These temp sensors are in place to avoid creating "Rain Man burning child" episodes in the household. Commercial units have much higher temp limit switches (if they have them at all), but those are prohibitively HUGE and expensive.

Did you find a unit that can supply hot enough water?
 
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