He Built His Own Hot Water Heater

He Built His Own Hot Water Heater FARM HOME Miscellaneous 27-5-28 "It should last for as long as I'm around," says Mahlon Palmer, Clinton, N.Y., who built his own low-cost hot water heater out of a plastic tank. He built it because he was having a lot of problems with conventional electric hot water heaters. "I've gone through 8 or 10 electric hot water heaters over the past 25 years. Each tank lasted only about 2 1/2 years, and they cost about $200 apiece. I finally had my water tested and it turned out to be high in chlorides. "I talked to a chemist at the test lab, who said he recommended using only a hot water heater made of fiberglass or a plastic that would not react to the chloride. The problem was I couldn't find one like that on the market so I decided it was time to build one." Palmer bought a polypropylene high temperature tank from United States Plastic Company that's designed to withstand 200-degree temperatures and is resistant to corrosive chemicals. He then built two coils that he placed inside the tank. Both coils are made from 3/4-in. dia. copper tubing and are 60 ft. long. One coil is 22 in. in diameter and extends about halfway up the tank. This coil connects to an oil-fired boiler and heats the water. The second coil is 10 in. in diameter and runs from the bottom of the tank to the top. Water for the house runs through this coil. The tank is insulated with two layers of foil-backed insulation. The water inside the tank is never replaced. A remote bulb thermostat is used to control an additional zone on the boiler, thus maintaining a constant 130-degree temperature inside the tank. The hot water heater produces a constant 125 plus-degree water temperature at the faucet. "I installed this hot water heater about six months ago and it has worked great ever since," says Palmer. The oil-fired boiler provides backup heat for his geothermal heat pump system, which he designed and installed himself. "I use this system to heat my entire house all winter long and to cool the house all summer," he says. The heat pump is located in his basement and obtains its heat from 2,000 ft. of plastic pipe that's buried in his back yard. The closed loop system circulates 18 gal. of water per minute through the loop, extracting 4 degrees of heat from that water during the winter. "In most years I can air condition my house all summer for only about $50," says Palmer. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mahlon Palmer, 6885 State Route 5, Clinton, N.Y. 13323 (ph 315 853-5949).

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