Another one of those "More heat questions"

I have to just get something in-place before Monday night (forecast says that it will be in the teens when we start), so I am going with the idea Andy tossed out there.

I will be pre-heating my holding tank by running a short solution line off the dash panel back to the holding tank.  I figure that by the time I get the 300 feet of hoses laid out, that tank should be full of warm water...hopefully around 70 degrees.  It would take too long to recirculate the entire 110 gallons at 200 degrees, so hopefully I only need about 30 gallons to make the necessary rise in temperature.

After that, I will be looking into that booster off the blower....along with everything else!  I think that my expenses nearly double every winter just from repairs and upgrades...I hate winter!

I have a project that I drew up but never went forward with, but a lot of guys are talking about this on all forums right now, so I will see what we can do, I always wanted to try it on my legend, so I guess I better do it.
I think if we could get a 30-35 degree rise it would probably make a noticeable difference, no extra fuel costs or cords to make it work,
So I will bring it up at my meeting this week with Tim.

Might be the only good thing about freezing temps., it provides motivation to find an answer.

I would think that a 30+ degree rise would be right on the money for most regions.

I see a lot of propane heaters for garages on craigslist. Anybody use those to keep the van tosty?

Mo wrote:I see a lot of propane heaters for garages on craigslist. Anybody use those to keep the van tosty?

Absolutely! Great heat, but you don't want to leave them unattended, but many do.

I think if your not doing lots of houses per day this time of year then you could just fill your fresh tank from your hot water heater in your house,   theres a hose connection on the bottom for draining.      

Ive had to do this before when the customer has no other water available.

I've thought about that, but all I ever see come out of those drains is sand and corrosion.

I will be trying the tank pre-heater tonight using a pressure line off the control panel back to the tank. I figure it is worth a try for the $25 in fittings it cost me to make it. Just shooting for a water temperature of 70 or so on a night that will be in the teens.

I'll let you know how it goes.....have to get ready to leave in a few minutes.

So, how did it go?

Well, the concept was good and my heat was about 8 degrees higher atw, but the cheap garden hose tee started leaking badly so the experiment ended early. I think I might be on the right track for a cheap heat boost.

I am going to be testing our cold water booster this week. Tim and I worked on it it this Saturday.
I hope it works, it is a very easy to set up. Our water temps are in the 40's coming to the TM.
I only ran it for a little bit and it shows promise so we will see how it does.
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Hey sccc
On a older PC unit like the one in the pic. If you take the line that goes from the dump selnoid to the waste tank. Take it loose at the tank reroute to fresh water tank. Now everytime the unit dumps to control the temp it dumps 230 degree water into the cold water. Heating the water and saving clean water.

Thank you Ace, yes you are correct. I did that a couple years ago, and it helped a lot from wasting water.
The booster worked good today, I will post some info about it after I use it for a while, I am sick as a dog right now, today I just wanted to get back home a go to bed.

Now one other thing. Take the other line on the tank that goes to the manual dump valve to the water tank. Turn the valve one turn open while preheating the unit. While you are pulling hoses and prespraying. Make sure you 1) Run the line to the bottom of the tank. 2) In the winter time have it within 12 in. of the fresh water tank outlet in the winter time. When you start cleaning turn the valve back half turn closed. Adjust your psi back up. Now when you clean you will pull warmer water into the unit. In the summer close the valve. Now you may need too adjust the valve adjustment.
This is something white magic did in their water tanks. Just something to try.

Very interesting SCCC. That's a good idea.
Couriosity/neccesity is the mother of all inventions!

SCCC wrote:Thank you Ace, yes you are correct. I did that a couple years ago, and it helped a lot from wasting water.
The booster worked good today, I will post some info about it after I use it for a while, I am sick as a dog right now, today I just wanted to get back home a go to bed.

Glad to see that little ingenuity paid off for you.

Get some rest, hope you just need a hot shower and good night sleep to be back on your feet.