Idea for cooling my tank....

[einsteins]

Hi all

Just an Idea I had....see what you think.

My tank runs fine temp wise most of the time but occasionally it will get a bit warm based on house temps.

My idea was to possibly use the waste water from my RO/DI to cool my tank water.
My RO/DI waste water is always quite cool and because we use the RO/DI for drinking water it is running a majority of the time.

I was thinking of running the waste water into a bucket with an overflow to the drain. I then thought it might work well to run a coil of flex tubing in that bucket. Water from the sump could be pumped through the coil in the cool waste water thus slightly cooling the tank water.

Anyone think this might be feasible?
Seems to me that if you could use a thin walled tubing for the coil in the bucket there would be some good heat transfer.

eins

[einsteins]

shamless bump...

[einsteins]

Last bump

I am assuming its not that great an idea based on the response I have recieved.

thanks
eins

[rbursek]

Good idea, I did a sinular thing, I ran a 50 ft coill of plastic tubing 3/8 diameter, inlet water to my RO/DI in my sump to cool the water and also warm the inlet water to my unit. Worked too well, at least with 50 ft, drop my tank temp and kick on the heaters, they could not keep up. Well water 56*F. Just adjust your flow or coil lenth accordily.
Bob

[gabe3d]

Originally posted by rbursek
Good idea, I did a sinular thing, I ran a 50 ft coill of plastic tubing 3/8 diameter, inlet water to my RO/DI in my sump to cool the water and also warm the inlet water to my unit. Worked too well, at least with 50 ft, drop my tank temp and kick on the heaters, they could not keep up. Well water 56*F. Just adjust your flow or coil lenth accordily.
Bob

Is the flow of the well water through the 3/8'' tubing consistent?

My initial thought would be that using Waste RO/DI water wouldn't cut it because the flow is not large enough in quantity (unless if you don't have an auto shut off) also the thermal conductivity of vynil is not that great, but if you run a lot of it then i guess it will compensate for it.

[obzezzed350]

I think the heat from the pump used to get the water through the coil and back would cancel out any cooling effect.

[gabe3d]

Originally posted by obzezzed350
I think the heat from the pump used to get the water through the coil and back would cancel out any cooling effect.

The water from your pipes are pressurized already, that is why it jets out of the faucet. Some people do add booster though to the inlet side of the RO/DI because of the pressure required to force water through the membranes. Getting water from a well needs a pump but the water temperature is pretty cold as rbursek noted.