ly American perspective on the topic in this article:
The 60W bulb I put in this morning didn't cause the indoor temp to bump... In fact it was colder inside than out this afternoon. The brick walls have thermal mass.Gene Pink said:
This evening I added a second 60W bulb in my drop light (60W is all I had handy), hanging right on the subject cold water line.
Seriously they make commercial pipe heaters that are a tape you wrap around the pipe with maybe single digit watts heat output and even a thermostat IIRC... This seems much more elegant.A clamp-on high temp fixture with an orange 250 watt "keep the french fries warm at McDonalds" heat lamp would probably work too well. Diode in series would cut the power in half.
Or find an LED heatlamp to really save energy.
If it were me, I would grab 5) 100 ohm, 10W resistors, wire in series, add 120V line cord and inline fuse, tape resistors to pipe every few inches with many turns of aluminum tape to catch the heat from all sides of the resistors, and wrap with insulation.
Or substitute 5) 1 ohm, and power with a 12V transformer. You can also tape the transformer to the pipe to catch that heat, too.
Gene
JohnRoberts said:The 60W bulb I put in this morning didn't cause the indoor temp to bump... In fact it was colder inside than out this afternoon. The brick walls have thermal mass.
The 2x 60W did not keep the room above freezing (right at 30' this morning), but the drop light right at that pipe may be enough for that one pipe that appears to be my weakest link.Gene Pink said:
Life gives us the test first and then the answers.....I bet you won't forget the lesson.Here's a story from back in Jersey, early '80s.
Plant manager instructed me, over my objections, to do a spiral wrap of heat tape on a 300 foot run of 2 inch black iron water pipe in an unheated warehouse. Heater tape was 5 watts per foot, meant for a straight run on the bottom of the pipe. Also instructed to add a double wrap of fiberglass, this is just too damn much. But I did it anyway, per boss instructions. We all know how that goes.
Came in the next morning, 300 foot run at roof level and a downrunner, I tested by cracking open the 2" ball valve at the bottom of the downrunner.
Damn near got scalded by high pressure steam blasting out.
I made a boiler. :
more than a run... more like a road trip to a different nearby city. Buying over the internet is my friend. We have 2 mid teen night forecast for next week so I may go ahead and order some heat tape. Even though it won't show up in time. I can do my laundry one of those two nights so have an excuse to run the dryer.
I have junk that I carried with me from my childhood home in NJ (part of an old WE amplifier of my fathers). I have been trying hard to throw away my excess JIC inventory for years now. I have a fresh pile at the curb almost every month for town pickup.
Well maybe if you weren't in another country you could come over and help me lift my new oven up into the wall cut out. I got the old one down and out in my carport already this morning. Looks like an easy 2 man lift, but might be a struggle for one (very old) man. :-[Youngwhisk said:
. That sounds like a BAD problem!
clearly could have been worse... I felt the tingle when I sampled the temperature so got my butt out of the shower before there was a stronger conductive path.Goodizzy said:John,
Yikes, being shocked by the water heater!!
The water heater was in my laundry room for some 30 years while I lived here, and who knows how long before I bought this casa.
My new one is very well insulated, which perhaps is why I had a cold water pipe freeze in the same room. :
Heat loss has nothing to do with the shock hazard... The electrical field from heating hot water causes exposed steel to erode (oxidise). The water heaters typically have a sacrificial anode (aluminum or magnesium) to preferentially give up atoms preserving the steel tank and heater casing. After several decades my sacrificial anode was long gone and rust had eaten it's way through to the heating element, energizing my bath water.
My general advice if you have electric hot water is to check the sacrificial anode, but be prepared for a struggle. My heater was replaced about a year ago and when I tried to unscrew the anode it was no go... I bought an impact wrench and still can't break it loose. I need another warm body to hold my heater so it doesn't move when I crank down on my breaker bar, a two man job and I am but one man.
A handyman is much cheaper in the long term. Trust me.JohnRoberts said:
I am looking forward to my would be electrician's return call... Sorry Charlie. ;DGene Pink said:
As often happens I am close to managing the frozen pipe threat a little late. Weather patterns have returned to normal. I picked up a short 3' 20W pipe heater wrap, that I will install as soon as I pick up a short extension cord for it. 20W right on the subject pipe should hold me another 30 years.Goodizzy said:
Yes I still have one more heavy lift to go. On Christmas morning my in wall air conditioner-heat pump woke me up to a thump, thump, thump death rattle. So the replacement is sitting waiting for me to pop the old one out and this new one in, but at 95# and about 4' up the wall, I can't hooah this one by myself (even in my dreams). I planned to take advantage of my electrician's strong back helper (they all seem to bring one with them), but now it looks like that isn't going to happen.Gene is right though regarding hiring a contractor. Can't hooah everything
Those look like could break them loose too...(1/2" breaker bar with pipe torque extender on end..). Maybe a variant on that, a strap wrench that fits a 2-3' diameter tank...PRR said:
Thanks for the idea. My neighbor said I could borrow his son one evening next week who could lift it himself for chuckles.
Yup, I bought a plug in electric impact wrench because I do not have an air compressor handy (not needed for SMD rework). I didn't buy the cheapest/weakest model, but clearly not enough power. My heater was only 6 months old at the time, how tight could it be? (ans. tight enough).Gene Pink said:
Success,,,, last night the borrowed labor got the airco/heat pumps swapped out, so exactly one month from the failure. Luckily I still had the old school in wall heaters to use in the meantime.Gene Pink said:
