[SherwoodCleaningSe]

A few days ago I was asking about immersion heaters, well no I've been silly and gone and done it.

Basically I bought an Incolloy immersion heater and wired it into a plug and then made a hole in the top of the tank and installed it.  The heater shouldn't effect the tds of the water.

We had a bad frost last night,  I put the immersion on a timer to come on 2 hours before I transfered the water.  Result was water was at 25 C instead of about 5 and my hoses where nice and easy to use.  The immersion will bring the water up to silly temperatures if left long enough.

This is a very cheap way of getting warm water on a cold morning, leaving the heater on for 2 hours will cost 63pence at night.  The thing you need to be careful of is that it draws a lot of currant and if wired into the wrong cable it could easily start a fire.

Heres a couple of pics.

Simon.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9271652&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=Immersion+heater&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1203979347981&isSearch=true

[matt]

good man

this is in your IBC in your garage /  shed i guess

40 amp cable will be man enough, its the same stuff they use for power showers and electric cookers

[jeff1]

3 core heat resistant flex for an Immersion heater, you can always tell its heat resistant, when you peel back the outer sleeve you will see a chalk like powder.

Good idea on the Immersion heater Simon.

[Nathanael Jones]

Great idea, cheap and simple,... what more could you ask for!

Do you find working with warm water any different?

Be careful not to heat the water too much tho, as most pumps are only rated to 60 deg C!

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I've found that the warm water does tend to sheet more than very cold water.  It also removes stubborn bird doings easier.  I wasn't going to heat the water much above 30 C really.  I have flojet pumps, any ideas what these can take, I think its only 40 C.  I think I will eventually get an on board system but at the moment there is no space for one in my truck.

Simon.

[AuRavelling79]

What's the wattage Sherwood?

I've been using a couple of fishpond heaters in my van tank to take the chill off but they're only 300w the pair. Works tho'

[steve m]

If I remember correctly, flojets have a max temp of 45 deg.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

3 KW hence the thick cable.

Simon.

[cbcs]

Any chance of fitting a convertor and running it off the van?

[matt]

Any chance of fitting a convertor and running it off the van?

no far too much pwer for a inverter, it would also kill the battery very quickly

[steve freeman]

Hi simon could i ask if you are using 3amp or 13 amp in the plug for your emersion element

thanks

steve

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

13

[richywilts]

how long does the water stay warm for???

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Worked yesterday from 7-2 heated the water to about 37c but only took about 400 lts and at 2pm it still felt warmish, I could feel it hear the microbore. Temperatures yesterday were about -1.

Simon.

[LWC]

Think im going to do this, put it on timer, come on around 6.30 for couple of hours, i reakon you could heat it to about 50 by the time its got to tank etc it wont be that hot.

Woudl the sub pump in tank be ok with heat?

[Steven Shoreditch]

It's all very well heating the tank, fine, but it's the small pipes coming out that freeze solid.  1cm of ice in a tube and you've had it.

[Mark Stevens]

I have got a van mounted system, do you think I could plug an emmersion heater into a standard or heavy duty extention lead without setting light to the van?

[Steven Shoreditch]

Yes, why not?

[LWC]

Thermostat heater in van will save the frozen pipes

I set mine on 16 degrees, just pops on every so often

[Spruce]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for this informative thread.

I see that the length of the heater element would probably sit about a third in an IBC tank - maybe a little more. Have you experienced the heater just heating the water at the top of the IBC tank and leaving the bottom cold - hot water rises.The reason for the question is that our transfer pump (not submersible) draws water from the bottom on the IBC tank where the water would be coldest. As I probably would only use about 300l in winter at best, I would always be transferring cold water, leaving the hot behind.

I also would be aware that putting the heater onto a timer could catch someone out someday with a half full IBC tank and a heater element kicking on without any water - although a safety cut out should prevent any damage to the unit, the heat from the unit could melt the ibc plastic around the element housing.

Spruce

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Yep it does only heat the top up to a good temperature, although the overall temperature is increased.  I floated my sub pump so that it drew water from the top however if you have an external that draws water from the outlet then you'd always be pulling through the coldest stuff.

If you have a timer not only do you need to make sure that the tank is full but also that the timer itself is rated at 13amps.

There isn't an immersion heater that you could use in the van off of the van power as the currant is too much.

Simon.

[d s windowcleaning]

what size drill bit did you use when fitting this ?

[Steven Shoreditch]

WHy not put the element in the base of the tank, not the top?  Not in the underside, I mean in the side at the bottom.

[Spruce]

WHy not put the element in the base of the tank, not the top?  Not in the underside, I mean in the side at the bottom.

Hot water still rises and will still be at the top of the tank and the cooler water at the bottom no matter where your heating element is. This is why your hot water tank has it's outlet pipe at the top.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I gave serious thought to putting the immersion at the bottom as that would be the best place for it, however making the joint water tight would be tricky and at the time I wanted a fast fix cheap warm water set up.

Simon.

[Rob_Mac]

If you ran a sub pump without a hose on it in tandem with the heater set up it would circulate the water around the tank.

Rob

[Robin Ray]

A good idea!

How does the plastic of the tank cope with the heat?

Rob

[Steven Shoreditch]

I'd be seriously worried about that.  You get all kind of weird expansion things going on.

Interesting what guy above said about the element in tanks usually being in the top - that's right, I think.  Take a look at an immersion tank and you'll see the same.

Anyway, immersion tanks are made from copper/metal, surely, not plastic?

Why not, therefore, have two immersion (copper) tanks in the van for wfp water?

[dai]

When I run the babies bath the water is hottest near to the tap, It only takes a couple of paddle movements with my hand to even out the tempreture.
Surely the movement of water in the tank when your driving would even it out too.

[Pureclean Essex Services]

surely if you fitted element at bottom of tank(proberbly only possible on flat tanks)the water would heat at bottom then rise,eventually giving you a full tank of reasonbly hot water afer a few hours,as long as it does'nt get to hot ,i would have thought tank should be ok,you can't heat water more than what pump can take anyway

Brian.

[formb]

How did you fix it to the tank?

I bought an element and cant find a 2 1/4" retaining nut anywhere.

[mark311069]

ive just put a immersion heater in my ibc today, i have supported it in the tank using bungees so its easy to move it up or down in the ibc depending how much water is in it at the time. its also easy to remove if needed,

[Poles R Us]

ive just put a immersion heater in my ibc today, i have supported it in the tank using bungees so its easy to move it up or down in the ibc depending how much water is in it at the time. its also easy to remove if needed,

Now that does sound dangerous

[paul saunders]

How did you fix it to the tank?

I bought an element and cant find a 2 1/4" retaining nut anywhere.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p31429

[formb]

How did you fix it to the tank?

I bought an element and cant find a 2 1/4" retaining nut anywhere.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p31429

Cheers my dear.

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

sherwood this is wat im after how long does this take to heat the water up

[Spruce]

Its in the very first section of the thread

[geefree]

This must be the old thread steve had seen,

did mine today... 640 ibc... element at the bottom as the instructions stated, as the element heats everything above first.

was easy to seal ,using a threaded flange inside the tank.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

sherwood this is wat im after how long does this take to heat the water up

In the end I was putting the heater on for about 3 hours before I transferred the water bringing it upto a temperature of about 35C.  By the time it's gone down 100 meters of micro bore the it barely feels warm, however I can work all day without the poles or hoses freezing even on conservatory windows.

I've recently got an L5 to heat the water in the van instead as I feel that this will be a lot more efficient.

This is my third winter second full winter with this kind of set up and looking back it has saved me a lot of money, I can honestly say that I have not had a day off of work due to water freezing since I've done this.

Simon.

[geefree]

Simon , did you heat the water then tranfer it to van tank,... if so, that too will also lose heat,

i am thinking of getting it up to 50c.... heating  only enough water i think i will need for the day  ie.... 640 tank.... heat 300 litres....

just to give me a wage in this freeze.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

That's why I've just gone over to the l5 heater. I transfer the water I need cold and then circulate it thru the heater. And I only take what I need. No point heating water your not going to use, but I had the element in the top of the tank so therefor had to heat the full 1000 liters. In all honesty though I don't think it loses a lot of heat on transfer, water has an ability to retain it's own heat. Even at the end of the day the temperature of the water would still be warm.

Simon.

[clearview window c]

hi looks like a good setup. one question, how full does the tank have to be? does the element need to be completely covered
 ta

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

As much as possible. I wouldn't feel happy having more than an inch out of the water.

Simon.

[Dennis Taylor]

Me and a plumber mate fitted a 27" immersion element to my van tank today, about 5" from the bottom of the tank. 2hrs later i had a tank of water that would be pleasant enough to bath in..... RESULT.
To the guy that posted this topic i am most grateful, your a star.

Dennis

[clearview window c]

thanks i know what im doing this weerkend.

[david thomas]

wfp pumps have a internal rubber impeler which will be damaged with hot water but may be o.k with warm water make sure your tank is not boiling hot, try to set up a electric timer to the element don't just rely on the thermostat inside the heater element

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

a fantastic reply by david
hot does knacker pumps fact

[Clive McDonald]

rubbish

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I've found that my pumps work much better with warm to very warm water.  Not had it hot though ie 50C+.

Simon.

[Clive McDonald]

I've got an on demand two man set.Tank -pump- reel. No problems.

A one man system only need put cold through, but......


By definition all ionics and other systems must have hot water go through the pumps.And they've been doing it for years.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

ok slumpy prove it i no pumps
on hot systems r differant

[G & M]

Great idea.
 I have been thinking of using a solar panel to heat the water in the summer but don't know how big a panel would be needed or if it would be too expensive to make it worthwhile.
 If it was it would also heat the water a bit most days through out the year. This could reduce the cost in the winter and eliminate it during the summer.I am talking about a 1000ltr tank.

[trevor perry]

a fantastic reply by david
hot does knacker pumps fact

the pumps are ok with temps upto 60 degrees c but any higher will knacker them