6 gallon electric water heater

Just found a 6 gal hot water heater thats 110V. It is in like new condition. Any reason I can't use this for a HLT?
Cheers

Depends on the max water temp at output. Many will not achieve sparge temps of 168*F to 170*F.

Other than you'll need to defeat the temperature shutoff to get it up to sparge temps, nothing that I can think of

That's exactly what I was thinking about doing. Besides defeating the built-in thermostat, you need to come up with a way to monitor the water level.

-Joe

You might not be able to use it as an HLT, but it would be GREAT for supplying 130*F feed water to your HLT.

:rockin:

Like everyone siad, The thermostat shouldn't be hard to monitor, the just drill through the side and add a sightglass. You'll also need a ballvalve down low if there.s not already one. The water in and water connections on my HWH are on the top. There won't be city water pressure on your HLT to push it out the top

IrregularPulse said:

just drill through the side and add a sightglass.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I wouldn't do that with a glass-lined hot water heater tank

-Joe

You have to remember, a HWH is pressurized, and won't gravity-feed. A sightglass like you'd use on a kettle won't work. Also, HWH's are fed with cold water as the hot goes out, and so the temperature of the outgoing water drops as you use up water. Sure, you could use it as a HLT by defeating the thermostat limits, but you'd have to come up with another way to measure volumes.


I'm with Cpt Kirks: Install it in the garage and use it to supply hot feedwater to your HLT, and for clean-up water.

Cpt_Kirks said:

You might not be able to use it as an HLT, but it would be GREAT for supplying 130*F feed water to your HLT.

:rockin:

Click to expand...

Thermostat goes up to 175 deg. Thought it would be great for strike water and sparge pre heating.

Ok, pressure. Now that is a problem. I know on a HWH that as water is removed cold water enters......How can I shut off water intake and pressure it to drain?

wrestler63 said:

Ok, pressure. Now that is a problem. I know on a HWH that as water is removed cold water enters......How can I shut off water intake and pressure it to drain?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't do that shutting off the inlet, keep it 100% filled all the time but add a regulator to the inlet and drop the pressure to 20 psi and let the heater maintain the temps. Keep the safety pressure release in the system. JMO. as I used a 20 gallon under sink electric heater in the past. Ordered one had two delivered at a rental house 100 miles away and got down there 3 weeks later.
Was told keep the extra heater as paperwork was more of a PITA so it went into brewing action.

nostalgia said:

Yeah, I wouldn't do that with a glass-lined hot water heater tank

-Joe

Click to expand...

AH! Wsan't aware they were glass lined

That'd probably take away the possibility of just cutting off the top to make it a big pot.

I got a 10 gallon one that I cut the top off of. It wasn't glass lined (at least not on top). Now its basically an insulated 10 gallon pot. I completely removed the thermostat and just wired the 110 plug directly to the element. It does not enough power for boiling but can get to about 180. If you do it, I would suggest two things.

1) Filter the water after the water heater. Old water heaters are really nasty inside full of build up through the years. I wouldn't want to risk all the extra minerals, etc... Unless, of course, you cut the top off and clean it like crazy.

2) If you don't cut the top off and do defeat the thermostat, I would recommend a double back up to prevent over pressurization. Sure, they come with pressure release valves, but I personally wouldn't want to rely on it every time, especially since they work by spewing boiling hot water and steam out. I'd at least have a permanent opening for steam to escape.

wrestler63 said:

Ok, pressure. Now that is a problem. I know on a HWH that as water is removed cold water enters......How can I shut off water intake and pressure it to drain?

Click to expand...

Generally water heaters fill through an internal tube to the bottom of the tank (usually where the element is located) and draw off hot water from the top. The hot water will rise to the top and the cold will stay in the bottom until it is heated unless you draw off the full tank.

My take on how to use this thing is to hook it up to a garden hose rather than hard plumbing. Fill it up, turn off the supply and heat to the desired temp. This way, you won't have to worry about the temp differential caused by more water flowing in. Of course, the concern here is running the element dry. To avoid this, you could just make two drains, one at the bottom (that's already there) and another that is just above the element location (you can find this height by taking the cover off). Use a tee and a copper tube off the existing drain to make your new higher up drain. Anytime the unit is plugged in, only drain from the top drain. The bottom is there to fully empty after a brew day.

Ok, I have used acid to clean out the tank prior to use. Clean as a whistle. Now, what I am thinking is to run a hose for a supply line and have a cpvc line running into my HLT. Heat and drain for mash, repeat for sparge. This should be great for 5g batches but will be quite short for 10g.

Maybe I just need to rethink this and just use the thermostat and element wiring for a RIMS.