wetback questions

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wetback questions

Post by northdude » 06 May 2023, 6:00 pm

Does anyone know if you need a special hot water cylinder to have a wetback system. I'm picking between nz and aus we have similar spec cylinders.
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 06 May 2023, 6:25 pm

I have a slow combustion stove with wet back and storage tank. thermosyphon

I have gravity fed water from a tank on the hill behind house so it's low pressure not high pressure like you would get from a pressure pump.

It is just a copper tank in an insulated case. has a pressure relief valve on the top.

Only special things you have to consider are the working pressure, desired capacity and number and position of tank outlets. feed water in near the bottom, cold water to wet back near the bottom, wet back to tank near the top and hot water outlet at the very top.
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Re: wetback questions

Post by northdude » 07 May 2023, 8:10 am

Ok so its a special cylinder
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Re: wetback questions

Post by Lazarus » 07 May 2023, 8:55 am

Not the subject I thought from the title :oops:
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 07 May 2023, 9:28 am

not sure what you're trying to achieve. is it for a domestic hot water installation?
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 07 May 2023, 9:40 am

IMG_8530.jpg
IMG_8530.jpg (28.95 KiB) Viewed 901 times


feed water comes in on the bottom left, hot water outlet is at the very top with relief valve tee'd in. the top right hand pipe come from the top of the wet back in the stove, the bottom right hand pipe goes to the bottom of the wet back. It thermosyphons between the wetback and the tank through those pipes.

Works amazingly well, and increases efficiency by using the heat to do an extra job of heating domestic hot water. It heats the kitchen, cooks food and heats water. All on a renewable, carbon neutral fuel source. TAKE THAT GREENIES!!!! :twisted:
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Re: wetback questions

Post by northdude » 07 May 2023, 3:07 pm

More another method of heating up the water as we get a lot of power cuts now for some reason. A hot shower is one of lifes simple luxuries...
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 07 May 2023, 5:24 pm

northdude wrote:More another method of heating up the water as we get a lot of power cuts now for some reason. A hot shower is one of lifes simple luxuries...


A power cut here only effects our lighting and refrigeration. Gravity fed water and the wood stove to cook and heat water means more independence and low electricity bills. Our quarterly power bills have only gone over $300 in the last 12 months.
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Re: wetback questions

Post by northdude » 07 May 2023, 7:16 pm

We have an electric hot water cyl so a power cut kills the hot water. They also run on whats called a ripple switch over here as well so they can turn your hot water off whenever they want to as well. Double pita thanks for the info so far tho
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 07 May 2023, 8:07 pm

Screw that!
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Re: wetback questions

Post by northdude » 07 May 2023, 8:43 pm

Exactly thats why im wondering about a wetback system. Or find an understanding sparky who can bypass the rip switch. One less problem..
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Re: wetback questions

Post by bladeracer » 07 May 2023, 9:11 pm

MtnMan wrote:
northdude wrote:More another method of heating up the water as we get a lot of power cuts now for some reason. A hot shower is one of lifes simple luxuries...


A power cut here only effects our lighting and refrigeration. Gravity fed water and the wood stove to cook and heat water means more independence and low electricity bills. Our quarterly power bills have only gone over $300 in the last 12 months.


We're off grid but we were looking at our neighbour's three freezers he just filled with 600kg of beef. First thing that occurred to me was power cut :-)
But he says he has three generators for backup in that instance :-)

Our quarterly bills were pushing $700 from memory when we stopped using them. Just asked Rose if she can get me one of our old bills so I can work out what our bills would be today if we were still paying for it.
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Re: wetback questions

Post by bladeracer » 07 May 2023, 10:04 pm

bladeracer wrote:
MtnMan wrote:
northdude wrote:More another method of heating up the water as we get a lot of power cuts now for some reason. A hot shower is one of lifes simple luxuries...


A power cut here only effects our lighting and refrigeration. Gravity fed water and the wood stove to cook and heat water means more independence and low electricity bills. Our quarterly power bills have only gone over $300 in the last 12 months.


We're off grid but we were looking at our neighbour's three freezers he just filled with 600kg of beef. First thing that occurred to me was power cut :-)
But he says he has three generators for backup in that instance :-)

Our quarterly bills were pushing $700 from memory when we stopped using them. Just asked Rose if she can get me one of our old bills so I can work out what our bills would be today if we were still paying for it.


Okay, we found some bills.
2019 we were paying 40-cents per kWh and our bill for the year was just on $3000. Last year, 2022 we used 4,428kWh overall - generated by ourselves.
The Powerwall tells us that we're using between 460kWh in August last year down to 308kWh in January, so averaging 369kWh per month. The rates though are difficult to equate as we don't know how much of our usage is "offpeak", and I don't even know what they consider offpeak anyway. Current rates are 36-cents per kWh for peak, 16.5-cents per kWh offpeak, plus there's something called a "shoulder". Our heating, cooking and hot water is wood fires, our "cooling" is an electric pedestal fan if it gets really hot. During winter we have to run an electric pump non-stop for a few days to clear the rainwater from the house and send it up to the dam, that must cost a bit. We do a bit of welding, grinding, lathework and such, and we're always charging batteries for tools, like the lawnmower. It's _possible_ our bills might have reduced a little if we'd stayed on grid, but Rose finds that hard to believe.

So it looks to me like grid electricity has actually gotten cheaper, but I have no idea by how much. Rose did the "energy compare" thing a month back for a mate in town and they paid $3000 last year for electricity, but they have air-con and heating so I don't know how it might equate to ourselves.
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Re: wetback questions

Post by MtnMan » 08 May 2023, 6:13 am

bladeracer wrote:
We're off grid but we were looking at our neighbour's three freezers he just filled with 600kg of beef. First thing that occurred to me was power cut :-)
But he says he has three generators for backup in that instance :-)
.


Vacola jars and a pressure canner. ;) 8-)

long term meat and vege storage with no electricity requirement.
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