Installing Bosch tankless water heater with filter

[snackson]

Well my water heater is almost 13 years old and it was time to replace it because knowing my luck it would go out while I'm on deployment and my wife would have to deal with it. My dad owns a contracting company back in Kalamazoo, MI and brought a Bosch Greentherm C 1050 ES with him out here to San Diego. http://www.bosch-climate.us/product...esidential-water-heaters/therm-c-1050-es.html I figured since I am going to install a tankless, I might as well throw a filter on the inlet that I can line up when I am going to brew. I purchased a GE GXWH35F water filter housing and FXHTC water filter. http://t.homedepot.com/p/GE-1-in-High-Flow-Opaq-WH-System-GXWH35F/100471274/ http://t.homedepot.com/p/GE-Household-Pre-Filtration-Chlorine-and-Sediment-Filter-FXHTC/100062565/ There will be a valve on the inlet to filter, outlet of filter and a valve (bypass) on the main cold water line. The bypass will be open all the time and the two filter valves will only be opened while in use. This gives me clean 140 degree water to start the day with. Then I will only have to heat up about 20 degrees to hit strike temp. We also installed a drain tub right underneath that will be very useful. For the drain we ran it to a garden hose valve so I can hook a hose up and run the waste water to the sewer connection without having to cut through four inches of concrete. Here are the pictures for now, we should have it finished tomorrow.

 

[lukebeulah]

Well done. Way to take care of business at home, and at the same time streamline things for brew day!


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[snackson]

Wife is happy about the new water heater and I am stoked about using it to make the brew day easier. I will also have a valve on the hot water outlet to prevent sending the 140 degree water to the house while I am brewing. Don't want to burn anyone.

 

[snackson]

Installed my hood above brew stand today and finished all the plumbing for the water heater. This thing is nice!

 

[Mike3701]

What's the hood made out of?


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[sdgenxr]

Great location for the tankless!! FYI, you might want to consider installing isolation valves to do an annual flushing of the heater. The hard water here in San Diego can result in calcium buildup on the heat exchanger reducing the effectiveness. I just did an annual flush on my unit a few weekends ago.

Thanks for your service!

 

[snackson]

The hood is made out of a 24" pine round table top (they sell them unfinished at HD/Lowes for around $20), 2X4 supports accross the middle and a sheet of FRP. Cut the pine in half, mount it to the 2x4's, cut the FRP to size, staple FRP to the hood, cut the scrap FRP for the inside on the sides of the pine and seal it all up with silicone. I bought a 6" fan off of Amazon and cut a hole through the FRP/Pine for it with a hole saw. I saw this on a thread in the Electric Brewing area. If I find it I wil post the link.

sdgenxr, there are two boiler drain valves, one for cold, one for hot. The original plan was to put a faucet in on the sink from those valves but I currently use them as is with a silicone hose connected to it. I also plan on hooking a pump up every 6 months to recirc vinegar through it via those two valves.

Thanks for your support!

 

[sdgenxr]

sdgenxr, there are two boiler drain valves, one for cold, one for hot. The original plan was to put a faucet in on the sink from those valves but I currently use them as is with a silicone hose connected to it. I also plan on hooking a pump up every 6 months to recirc vinegar through it via those two valves.

Ah, I see how you plan on doing it now! Keep showing off the great work!

 

[snackson]

I brewed with my setup for the first time last weekend. 12 gallons of Hefeweizen are fermenting away in my Brewhemoth right now. I took a bunch of pictures along the way but somehow I deleted them off of my phone before I could upload them. I was trying to put them in their own album on my iPhone and deleted them. I am running a 3 PID Electric HERMS setup with those three keggles. The boil PID flashed on and quit on me so I ended up using the HLT PID for the boil portion. I really enjoyed the system. With the water heater I was able to heat up the strike water and HLT water to temp in a few minutes. I did a protein rest at 122, raised it pretty quickly to 152 and mashed out/sparged at 168. I really like the electric setup and the vent hood. Cleanup was a breeze compared to past brews.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Hey snacks, next time I am in the sandy eggo I'll look ya up. Would love to check this out in person.

 

[snackson]

Yeah, hit me up next time you're coming this way.

Just got my first SDGE bill since the install (I also changed out the main lights we use in the house to LED's from CFL's) and my bill is less than half of what it used to be. $32.75 for the month which is awesome!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I thought I had a trip coming up for some business stuff but that got cancelled. Probably 6-months out now. Will try to remember then. In the mean time have fun with your sweet new setup!

 

[sdgenxr]

Just got my first SDGE bill since the install (I also changed out the main lights we use in the house to LED's from CFL's) and my bill is less than half of what it used to be. $32.75 for the month which is awesome!

NICE! We didn't notice that big of a drop after installing the tankless. I bet the LED's and the tankless combined did the trick. Congratulations!

 

[snackson]

NICE! We didn't notice that big of a drop after installing the tankless. I bet the LED's and the tankless combined did the trick. Congratulations!

Yeah, the living room is the area that we use the lights the most along with front door/entryway. Those are the areas I switched to Cree LED lights. Other than that, all the others are CFL's.

As for the water heater, the reason I saw a huge drop there is because my kids are only 2 right now. My wife and I are the only real hot water consumers.

 

[snackson]

NICE! We didn't notice that big of a drop after installing the tankless. I bet the LED's and the tankless combined did the trick. Congratulations!

Yeah, the living room is the area that we use the lights the most along with front door/entryway. Those are the areas I switched to Cree LED lights. Other than that, all the others are CFL's.

As for the water heater, the reason I saw a huge drop there is because my kids are only 2 right now. My wife and I are the only real hot water consumers.

 

[MaxOut]

The hood is made out of a 24" pine round table top (they sell them unfinished at HD/Lowes for around $20), 2X4 supports accross the middle and a sheet of FRP. Cut the pine in half, mount it to the 2x4's, cut the FRP to size, staple FRP to the hood, cut the scrap FRP for the inside on the sides of the pine and seal it all up with silicone. I bought a 6" fan off of Amazon and cut a hole through the FRP/Pine for it with a hole saw. I saw this on a thread in the Electric Brewing area. If I find it I wil post the link.



sdgenxr, there are two boiler drain valves, one for cold, one for hot. The original plan was to put a faucet in on the sink from those valves but I currently use them as is with a silicone hose connected to it. I also plan on hooking a pump up every 6 months to recirc vinegar through it via those two valves.



Thanks for your support!

I love the IHWH and makes brewing easier for sure. You may want to look into converting the unit to Commercial use that will enable temps to 185 degrees. I know with the Rinnai units you can remove a jumper on the control board, there may be a similar mod for your unit. Also I strongly suggest a high pressure relief valve on the output side of the heater. Most of the time these units have an optional install kit that includes unions and a relief valve. wouldn't be too late to add it and is required by code. Happy brewing!


MaxOut Brewstat

 

[snackson]

Also I strongly suggest a high pressure relief valve on the output side of the heater. Most of the time these units have an optional install kit that includes unions and a relief valve. wouldn't be too late to add it and is required by code. Happy brewing!


MaxOut Brewstat

Yeah, there is a relief valve in there now. It wasn't installed when the pictures were taken because we were soaking it in hot vinegar. I ended up just buying a new one anyways and installed that the next day. Good eye.

I was thinking about doing that to the control panel and I will do some research on it.

 

[snackson]

What's the hood made out of?

Found the link to the thread for the hood:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/5-1-2-foot-diy-hood-approx-75-a-371453/