Hi All,

I had an old american architect friend who told me ages ago about a 'temper tank' solution to pre-heat the water entering a boiler to save on heating costs.

Well.. I'm now getting a new condensing gas boiler on my house which is high up in the Pyrenees (really cold in winter!), and the old electric tank is going to be redundant.

The idea being that 5 degree water from the street, sits in the temper tank for a while taking in ambient heat from the house, getting to maybe 20 degrees, meaning the boiler only has to increase the temp by 30 degrees, rather than 45 to get it to 50 degrees.

The local plumber didn't have a clue what I was on about but I seem to have got the message across and he's agree to plumb the street pipe into the old tank and then from there into the boiler.

The only thing now is I'm concerned;

1) Is this the way it should work, will pressure be maintained from the street via the temper tank into the boiler.
2) That the water pressure from the street will be reduced by this temper tank, will it affect the other taps e.g. the cold in the sink which comes directly from the street.

Related to this: They pulled out the old gas boiler that only did the heating of the radiators, not the tap water, and now when you open downstairs taps the upstairs taps stop running. They are saying the pipe from the street is too narrow and want to dig another one in. Does that seem correct also?

Any ideas?

Bendecko

I'm not clear whether this tank you're referring to is designed for mains pressure or not but with this setup you will need the facility to raise the temp of the storage tank to 55 degrees C for an hour a week to protect against Legionnaires

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Not enough information, but it sounds like the blind leading the blind.

At the very least you should find someone that knows the system design.

I would have have thought solar panels may have been better at least to pre-heat the tank.

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Hi guys,

Pretty much in the dark, yeah.

1) OK so the tank needs to be designed to handle input mains pressure - I will check this.

2) Legionnaires clearly an issue:

a) The water is not drinking water... but I guess some might accidentally be swallowed.
b) The water will pass through the boiler before it gets anywhere else, and thus bacteria might be neutralised?

Here it is mentioned:

http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Forums ... fault.aspx

85F is just under 30degrees C... I'd imagine my tank would be in a room at 17to22 degrees, maybe it would be hotter in the summer.

I dunno... I don't want to kill anyone in the family... maybe not worth it to save some Euros heating the water. Its just a shame as the tank is sat there....

We in a steep valley so theres not that much direct sunshine....

Thanks

Bendecko

The obvious way in my mind would be to use the existing tank as a store and attach a plate hx, all the above problem would be gone.

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