WARNING: What follows is what happens when a guy has entirely too much time on his hands.
Brace yourself and try not to laugh too hard.
-------------------
I live WAY out in the country. Off grid. Photovoltaic solar power and generator power. Propane for cooking and propane refrigerator. Wood for heating (natch.)
There is a gas well nearby which the gas company had abandoned years ago. It gives off a very tiny bit of pure methane gas--from a coal seam about 600 feet down. I'm told that I could increase the flow by routinely pumping off the water that collects in the bottom of the well---but that would involve getting thousands of dollars worth of machinery: a gamble I'm not willing to bet on.
I hooked up to this well, and ran 200' of underground pipe to a large plate steel tank which I built near the house to build up volume. The tank is 20' x 2' round: a big project. From there it goes to my natural gas fired water heater in the basement.
There is only but a small volume and pressure to this gas. Originally, I started out with a 40 gallon HW tank. I had to adjust the flame on the tank to the absolute minimum size flame. (On a cookstove, it would be the kind of simmering flame that just barely rises above the burner---any smaller and out it goes.) Back to the water heater tank... a flame of this tiny size takes all day and night to recover a tank full of cold water.
The problem:
The longer this tiny flame stays on... the more likely that the gas pressure in the entire system would drop so low that it becomes impossible to even maintain the pilot!
I know it's hard to imagine living with such a system, but we did--and for a number of years. Yes---I could certainly "give in", hook up a propane water heater, and just pay for my hot water like everyone else, and forget about this small amount of "free gas"---but I cannot do it. I'm having too much fun being stubborn and trying to make it work.
I've had some improvements:
About 8 years ago, I switched tanks--and went from using a 40 gallon tank to a smaller 20 gallon model. BIG improvement! The smaller tank allows a quicker recovery--and an off period in which the gas supply and pressure can rebound and build. We've been able to squeeze several hot showers per day and dishwashing hot water from the system. as such---and only rarely (perhaps 4 times a year)would the system gas pressure drop down too low---an awful circumstance in which it would take at least two days to recover from. No real biggie---we can heat water on the propane cook stove or the woodstove in the winter. But not handy or fun.
---------------------
The most recent and really strange improvement:
Last summer, amidst cheers from my local Ace Hardware store (and un-relenting threats and bad vibes from my wife) I undertook a project which made my living room and kitchen quite a bit uglier, but improved my hot water system a great deal. I installed TWO water pre-heating tanks. I figured that, instead of putting cold well water into my gas hot water heater, I would put warm water in--and take a load off of my natural gas usage.
I bought two electric hot water heaters a 40 gallon tank... and a 6 gallon tank; stripped off the outer shells, insulation, thermostats and wiring--then painted them flat black.
Cold water from my supply comes into the first tank--the 40 gallon--which is sitting close to the back of my wood stove. In the summer, the water just comes up to room temperature. In the winter, the water gets warmed to about 85 degrees.
I nixed various schemes such as water-backs in the stove and/or thermosyphon connections to the tank--we sit very near this contraption, and there's no way that I wanted to even produce the potential for steam and/or explosions --betting our very lives on a TPR valve functioning as it should. I'm a little surprised and disappointed in the 85 temperature, and will experiment-- perhaps with some baffles and insulation.
The plot thickens...
From that 40 gallon tank near the wood stove the water goes (under the floor again) and then over to the kitchen where it comes up and into a cabinet above our propane gas refrigerator. The 6 gallon tank there gets heated from beneath via a short insulated chimney extension from the refrigerator's exhaust. Water in that tank gets up to about 100 degrees.
(I need to sew up an insulated curtain to go in front of the small tank--might raise the temperature even more.)
From the refrigerator tank, the water goes into our 20 gallon gas water heater in the basement (which is actually smiling at this point---it loves that nice warm water)
Our gas water heater hasn't gone out yet with this new arrangement. Knock on wood. We are taking nice long showers. No problems so far. Even my wife is liking the look of those tanks now!
Fine print:
All the tanks have TPR valves, TPR discharge piping, and tank drain piping that would meet any code requirement. There are a number of 2-way and 3-way valves in the basement which allow me to choose any path or bypass among the 3 tanks---and there is no combination of any possible valve settings that would produce a situation in which I have any tank not having a cold water supply to expand into (no closed systems). All hot and cold pipes insulated. The only "rule" that I'm aware of breaking is the admonition not to have propane and natural gas in the same dwelling---please: I think I'm not crazy enough to mix up those piping systems. Hey, I have three completely separate wiring systems all over the house (generator AC, inverted AC, and 12 VDC)... doesn't that entitle me to have two gas systems?
Any suggestions? Please: no advice to move back to the city... been there, done that: New Jersey, no less.
Brace yourself and try not to laugh too hard.
-------------------
I live WAY out in the country. Off grid. Photovoltaic solar power and generator power. Propane for cooking and propane refrigerator. Wood for heating (natch.)
There is a gas well nearby which the gas company had abandoned years ago. It gives off a very tiny bit of pure methane gas--from a coal seam about 600 feet down. I'm told that I could increase the flow by routinely pumping off the water that collects in the bottom of the well---but that would involve getting thousands of dollars worth of machinery: a gamble I'm not willing to bet on.
I hooked up to this well, and ran 200' of underground pipe to a large plate steel tank which I built near the house to build up volume. The tank is 20' x 2' round: a big project. From there it goes to my natural gas fired water heater in the basement.
There is only but a small volume and pressure to this gas. Originally, I started out with a 40 gallon HW tank. I had to adjust the flame on the tank to the absolute minimum size flame. (On a cookstove, it would be the kind of simmering flame that just barely rises above the burner---any smaller and out it goes.) Back to the water heater tank... a flame of this tiny size takes all day and night to recover a tank full of cold water.
The problem:
The longer this tiny flame stays on... the more likely that the gas pressure in the entire system would drop so low that it becomes impossible to even maintain the pilot!
I know it's hard to imagine living with such a system, but we did--and for a number of years. Yes---I could certainly "give in", hook up a propane water heater, and just pay for my hot water like everyone else, and forget about this small amount of "free gas"---but I cannot do it. I'm having too much fun being stubborn and trying to make it work.
I've had some improvements:
About 8 years ago, I switched tanks--and went from using a 40 gallon tank to a smaller 20 gallon model. BIG improvement! The smaller tank allows a quicker recovery--and an off period in which the gas supply and pressure can rebound and build. We've been able to squeeze several hot showers per day and dishwashing hot water from the system. as such---and only rarely (perhaps 4 times a year)would the system gas pressure drop down too low---an awful circumstance in which it would take at least two days to recover from. No real biggie---we can heat water on the propane cook stove or the woodstove in the winter. But not handy or fun.
---------------------
The most recent and really strange improvement:
Last summer, amidst cheers from my local Ace Hardware store (and un-relenting threats and bad vibes from my wife) I undertook a project which made my living room and kitchen quite a bit uglier, but improved my hot water system a great deal. I installed TWO water pre-heating tanks. I figured that, instead of putting cold well water into my gas hot water heater, I would put warm water in--and take a load off of my natural gas usage.
I bought two electric hot water heaters a 40 gallon tank... and a 6 gallon tank; stripped off the outer shells, insulation, thermostats and wiring--then painted them flat black.
Cold water from my supply comes into the first tank--the 40 gallon--which is sitting close to the back of my wood stove. In the summer, the water just comes up to room temperature. In the winter, the water gets warmed to about 85 degrees.
I nixed various schemes such as water-backs in the stove and/or thermosyphon connections to the tank--we sit very near this contraption, and there's no way that I wanted to even produce the potential for steam and/or explosions --betting our very lives on a TPR valve functioning as it should. I'm a little surprised and disappointed in the 85 temperature, and will experiment-- perhaps with some baffles and insulation.
The plot thickens...
From that 40 gallon tank near the wood stove the water goes (under the floor again) and then over to the kitchen where it comes up and into a cabinet above our propane gas refrigerator. The 6 gallon tank there gets heated from beneath via a short insulated chimney extension from the refrigerator's exhaust. Water in that tank gets up to about 100 degrees.
(I need to sew up an insulated curtain to go in front of the small tank--might raise the temperature even more.)
From the refrigerator tank, the water goes into our 20 gallon gas water heater in the basement (which is actually smiling at this point---it loves that nice warm water)
Our gas water heater hasn't gone out yet with this new arrangement. Knock on wood. We are taking nice long showers. No problems so far. Even my wife is liking the look of those tanks now!
Fine print:
All the tanks have TPR valves, TPR discharge piping, and tank drain piping that would meet any code requirement. There are a number of 2-way and 3-way valves in the basement which allow me to choose any path or bypass among the 3 tanks---and there is no combination of any possible valve settings that would produce a situation in which I have any tank not having a cold water supply to expand into (no closed systems). All hot and cold pipes insulated. The only "rule" that I'm aware of breaking is the admonition not to have propane and natural gas in the same dwelling---please: I think I'm not crazy enough to mix up those piping systems. Hey, I have three completely separate wiring systems all over the house (generator AC, inverted AC, and 12 VDC)... doesn't that entitle me to have two gas systems?
Any suggestions? Please: no advice to move back to the city... been there, done that: New Jersey, no less.
