But initially i wanted hot water, for cleaning and mostly for the softer hoses. To that affect I started by using 500watt fish tank heaters submerged in my tank. I was able fo get into the 40's using them overnight. Now that was great for warming up the hose and I started to see a difference in cleaning as well and that set me off wanting hot water and deciding upon the Immersion heater route to get it.
So basically im saying, that once youve seen the benefits and advantages of using hot you may not have the main aim of only doing so to keep the frost at bay.
( I think the ones who say that after a long time using it, is because of the running costs of doing so.)
Nathan it would take about 18 hours to heat cold water of say 10 degrees up to 40 degrees.
Just in case someone reads this and decides to waste money on a 1kw heater.
The only way you could possibly achieve that is if regularly you have half a tank of water left from the day still warm, and your start temp will Gradually start to rise if that repeats for a few days.
For the average guy like me who nearly drains their tank every day, a 2kw is needed to get anywhere near that. Even then it will
Still need about 9 hours to get there.
This is a very accurate calculator of heat/volume/time.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/calc.html
In the reference to fish tank heaters which you quoted, i believe my sentence was "heaters" as in more than one and anybody can use the search feature on here where in the past I said i used several heaters.
Fetching it forward, i promote the use of Immersion heaters as a great and safe way of achieving hot water, along with insulating the tank. Perhaps i and others should state the obvious in saying "do your research and do so safely" but I thought common sense would prevail.
Now for me and the size of the tank and how much water I use, along with the different starting temps that I have then my immersion works pretty well and I achieve HOT water as shown in many of my vids on my channel. Ive also in the past said the reason I use a 1kw is because I currently rent and cannot mess about with the electrics.
In addition I had a private conversation with someone about immersion heaters and recommended a 2kw. In addition the heat calculators are not truly accurate but give a good indication, because if they were right that would mean that I would have to come home, fill up and stick the heater on straight away. It would also mean that my electric bill would be extremely high and I certainly would not be running it through the summer montbs like I have been doing.
But, if I owned my own house I would be wanting the biggest and best heater I could afford to get. For me that would be a 3kw 27" inch long element