Using Attic To Heat Your Water?

rhinoguy

I have seen a couple of these. 4" CPVC pipe in the attic, laying flat across the rafters, with a drip pan. Connected to the inlet of the water heater. Attic reaches about 130 degrees in summer, valves divert water directly to heater in winter. Water comes out of the ground at 56 degrees. Anybody have any experience with such installations? Anyone using a tank in the attic? Sounds like it may lower cost of heating water some without costing much to install. Yes, I'm thinking about my house! BTW, 40' of 4" holds just over 26 gallons of water.

JamesNLA

cpvc huh?
Well, I guess anything is possible......just because one can do it, don't make it a good idea.

kennewickman

My advice to you, is if your attic is reaching 130 it needs to be vented better & an attic fan installed, much more important than saving a couple bucks on hotwater.

gitnerdun

130 is nothing in Fla. Repipes have been known to happen at night.

troubleseeker

Here's a big second on that . I don't put much faith in the 30" drip pan under my water heater, much less a 40' one. Sounds like a lot of trouble for not much return.

K2

In the 80's I had three large mirrored troughs on the roof with a tracking system that followed the sun all day. Took it down in the 90's. Too much work.

In Colorado I could lay coils of black plastic water pipe on the roof and get hot water most of the year. I probably would if I didn't have a water heater. Again it's alot of work.

Laying 4 "pipe in the attic sound like a leak waiting to happen. It would freeze here.

rhinoguy

Actually the first question was "has anyone seen these?" and obviously no one has. The actual layout is a plastic tray for watering livestock, 2' X 12'. Laying in the tray are four sections of 10' X 4" pipe, back and forth. The water enters from the ground level shutoff valve at 55 degrees, gets heated sitting in the attic, which is insulated from the house typically R-50 to R-70. Then it enters the water heater, which will rarely turn on during April through November. This is the sunny south, North Carolina. The whole setup has a drain valve that opens automatically at 35 degrees and closes the intake. Total cost of materials (surplus) will be around $70. How long before payback? I'm thinking about six months, then it's gravy. And why is pipe in the attic more likely to leak than the same stuff in the crawl space, which DOES freeze?
Just out of curiousity, would a water tank with it's insulation stripped off work better? Forty gallons is only 320 pounds and 26 gllons is only 208 pounds. The joists should support 600 pounds per square foot.
One othet thing, I've been in attics that I had to leave by 10AM because they were at 140 degrees and rising. I'm talking ventilated and big fans installed. Zowie! Thak goodness I don't have to do Miami!

woodmagman

You don't have a attic, you have a fall out shelter. Our building code for floors require a design of somewhere near forty pound per square foot of live load. An attic is not subject to live load so would typically be designed for under thirty. Someone correct me if I am wrong....we have McDonalds here too.

gitnerdun

I think insulating the tank or pipes would be the thing to do so that you don't lose the heat overnight. It will still get heat from the attic. Or how about a insulated storage tank with a circ pump to circulate water thru the pipes in attic during peak heat times. Plastic pipe leaks would be very rare, I would think.