Wanted to share my sump setup

[GaryDN]

before the pixs, I have a 90gal with a 50 gal sump. I created most of the sump myself. The issues I had was with a basement sump was heat in the winter and some cooling in the summer. We had put in a pellet stove to help keep the floor warm (that’s another story why it went in the basement). I wanted to be able to put as much heat from the stove into the sump so I could save on electricity (I hate spending money on utilities). So I build a heat exchanger from flex pvc and a old pressure cooker. Then I did not want to use a pump to run the heater so I'm using the drain to force the water thru the exchanger and my GFO reactor. So far it seems to work well, I get about 75 degrees out of the exchanger an I can use it to cool in the summer.

enough talky pictures:

 

[Jennifer]

Very interesting idea using the pressure cooker as a heat exchanger.
Any problems using such a device?
What are you using inside of there to transfer the heat to the tank water?

I have no way of implementing such a device, but I am curious.

 

[GaryDN]

Hey Jennifer, inside the pressure cooker is a coil of the flex pvc, as much as I could get in there. Then I fill it with water to help the heat transfer. It really works well when the stove is set to a middle seting or higher. Low settings really dont put out enough heat.

I really wanted to be able to heat the water directly but I was worried about the pressure cooker leeching something into the water. plus if its not really high quality stainless it may rust.

 

[Jennifer]

Cool, er ah warm

Does the pressure cooker ever overheat, like to the point where it would want to melt the flex pvc?

How do you regulate the amount of heat getting to the tank?

I had considered doing a heat exchanger running off of my boiler to heat my tank. But with the way I over build stuff the cost was starting to get up there.
Never seen anyone use a wood stove before, but why the heck not.

 

[GaryDN]

When I was using a pump I had a thermstat on it but it turn out it never really gets too hot for the tank. So now it never shuts off. I can bypass it if I need to and I put in unions and shut offs if I need to remove it. Pellet stove does not get really hot on top. if this was a wood stove then that would be an issue. If I have to shut off the water to it I do remove it from the stove to be on the safe side. I love coming up with ways to save money on this hobby. I cant wait for led lighting to get down in price.

 

[ldf99]

Do you have a boiler for home heating ?
If so you can add a zone just to heat your tank .

 

[GaryDN]

Dave how have you been.

No we have hot air heat. thought about trying to use the hot water heater

 

[ldf99]

hot water tank

Dave how have you been.

No we have hot air heat. thought about trying to use the hot water heater

Gary things are good and your self?

The hot water heater could work . Just need a bronze pump and some pex piping.Do you run your hot water tank over 130.F.

 

[GaryDN]

so how do you get the water back in the tank? I know how a heating system works not sure how you would do this.

 

[ldf99]

You will need a bronze pump to pump the water back into the tank on the cold water inlet .

 

[FreshFish]

Looks good Gary. How's the tank doing?

 

[Blueflu1]

Dave how have you been.

No we have hot air heat. thought about trying to use the hot water heater

You could still have a boiler with Forced hot air. We have Hydro air so we have a boiler too instead of a furnace.

 

[GaryDN]

You will need a bronze pump to pump the water back into the tank on the cold water inlet .

I'll assume a valve to stop the cold water from the house filling the tank ?