Side arm

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nwomatt

nwomatt

Member
Oct 12, 2012
65
northwestern ontario
So I'm putting a side arm on my hot water heater (electric) to heat It with my vigas which is still being installed. My question is my tank is old but a good glass lined 60 gal one. I thought I'd use it until I get a new one however there is only one port on the top of the tank which I now get the hot water from and have the relief valve on. On the bottom of the tank is the supply port and another port for the drain. Having a hard time figuring out how to plumb it.
 
nwomatt said:
So I'm putting a side arm on my hot water heater (electric) to heat It with my vigas which is still being installed. My question is my tank is old but a good glass lined 60 gal one. I thought I'd use it until I get a new one however there is only one port on the top of the tank which I now get the hot water from and have the relief valve on. On the bottom of the tank is the supply port and another port for the drain. Having a hard time figuring out how to plumb it.
Click to expand...
Forgot to mention I'm going to be pumping the domestic and will have a tempering valve. Maybe another tank is in order
 
I plumbed mine at the top T'ing into the relief valve tapping, which is on the side about 8" or so down from the top. At the bottom, just T'd into the supply. You could likely just T into your bottom & top in & out fittings, especially if pumping both sides. New tanks are nice & likely better insulated, but that one's your call - not sure how many miles are left in your old one.
 
I just T'd in at the relief and drain.
 
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I tied into my H2O heater just like MarkW. Make sure your old water heater is not filled with sediment. Mine had 6 " of stuff in the bottom, but it has a cleanout hole. Sine I hooked up to the boiler (have solar for summer) and keep the breaker off on my water heater, I have not had any sediment problems. IF it has sediment, I don't think you would get thermosyphon / heat transfer action to work properly even if it was pumped.
 
When I clicked on this thread title, I had no idea you'd be talking about a boiler.
 
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