Jeff Phillips
New Member
Being in a northern climate with cold winters, I am interested in exploring creative approaches to raising the incomming cold water temperature before the plumbing supplies it to the tankless water heaters.
One idea I have is to run it into a non-insulated tank placed in the boiler room where it is excessively warm all the time. This way water coming in on those coldest winter days will stand in a tank indoors in an above room temperature space for a good while to let it take the chill off before heading into the tankless heater.
Earlier today I was reading about people using thermostatic mixing valves to enable increasing the temperature of their tank water heater while delivering a lower temperature to the faucets by mixing in cold water as needed to regulate the temperature. It was mentioned that the aim would be to prevent bacterial growth by increasing the temperature of the water in the tank. Hmm...
That got me to thinking... Would having the incoming cold water sit indoors in a non insulated tank for a while before flowing onward to tankless heaters lead to a problem of bacterial growth in that cold water storage tank?
We have a large filtration, softener, and clorination injection system on our cold water supply plumbing currently, with the clorination system curiously set to its maximum level. So we would be putting highly clorinated water into the tank, unless for some reason that were undesired.
What methods would one take to combat bacterial growth in a cold water storage tank, or what alternate ideas might anyone have for taking the chill off the incomming cold water before feeding it into a tankless water heater?
Thanks,
Jeff
One idea I have is to run it into a non-insulated tank placed in the boiler room where it is excessively warm all the time. This way water coming in on those coldest winter days will stand in a tank indoors in an above room temperature space for a good while to let it take the chill off before heading into the tankless heater.
Earlier today I was reading about people using thermostatic mixing valves to enable increasing the temperature of their tank water heater while delivering a lower temperature to the faucets by mixing in cold water as needed to regulate the temperature. It was mentioned that the aim would be to prevent bacterial growth by increasing the temperature of the water in the tank. Hmm...
That got me to thinking... Would having the incoming cold water sit indoors in a non insulated tank for a while before flowing onward to tankless heaters lead to a problem of bacterial growth in that cold water storage tank?
We have a large filtration, softener, and clorination injection system on our cold water supply plumbing currently, with the clorination system curiously set to its maximum level. So we would be putting highly clorinated water into the tank, unless for some reason that were undesired.
What methods would one take to combat bacterial growth in a cold water storage tank, or what alternate ideas might anyone have for taking the chill off the incomming cold water before feeding it into a tankless water heater?
Thanks,
Jeff