"Hot" water coming next

Well I got ahead of myself a bit. Found a deal on a tankless water heater that was just too good to pass up.

Here is the unit I bought Fastar 8L per minute LPG tankless water heater. If the link goes dead just search ebay on some variation of that description.

For my American readers, let me first explain a bit about how tankless water heating systems work. There is no "holding tank" like we are used to. Water is heated as it flows through the unit. Whereas a tank type water heater keeps the water at a constant temperature, a tankless works on "temperature rise". In other words instead of hot water being held in the tank at 170 deg/F, a tankless raises the temperature of the incoming water by "X" degrees. An example of this is that when I tested my unit, Incoming water was about 55 deg/F. At full flow my "hot water" was about 100 deg/F after going through the heater.

The temperature of the water being output can be raised by slowing the flow of the water through the unit. This allows the water in the system more time to absorb heat. Bottom line, less flow, hotter water. There are safety features built in to all tankless heaters to prevent the water from boiling. Some units include a temperature sensor that shuts down the burner if the water gets too hot (due to low flow). On this unit, the "safety" is a flow switch where the burner and the control power are shut off if there is no flow.

The control shutoff feature on this unit was a welcome surprise. Because the burner control runs on 2 D-cell batteries I had some concern about battery lifespan if I forgot to shut it off at the provided switch. This unit conserves the batteries by shutting it completely off when the water stops flowing. The other safety feature is that, on the unit itself, the water valve can only be turned down so low. As long as there is water coming in, you cannot shut off the water at the unit with the provided valve. To completely shut off the water you need a valve on the input side of the unit. Shut that valve off and the unit will shut down completely.

The Fastar unit

There are a total of four controls on the unit itself. These are

• Summer / Winter setting
• This seems to be a "high low switch" for the burner.
• Burner gas control
• Can be used to adjust the amount of gas being consumed by the burner. This will also have an effect on the temperature rise.
• Water flow control
• Amount of water flowing through the unit. If you are at max burner level and the water is still not hot enough, you can lower the flow with this thus increasing the temperature of the delivered water. Simply be aware that you cannot shut off the water with this valve (as a safety precaution that I outlined above)
• Electrical on/off rocker switch
• Bypasses the flow switch to keep the burner from coming on even if water is flowing through the unit.

Test and evaluation of the unit

I set up the unit outside to test its operation and find its possibilities. First off you need to be aware that it is a design for the European market where tankless heaters are VERY common. The one thing that you will need to do if you purchase this unit or any others like it is to buy adaptors for the fittings. Be aware that for pipe this size, most European systems us "BSP" or "G" threads. this is a straight thread used for gas and water. These fittings you will not find at "Home Depot" so plan on ordering them when you order your unit (or any other unit that has "BSP" or "G" threads).

What I found was Conversion Coupling Adaptor To Convert USA 1/2" NPT Male To 1/2" BSP Female on Ebay. These fitting came "overnight" from England via FedEx. Once these were in place I was able to use Home Depot for the rest of my fittings. Be aware to will need a 1/2" female NPT to flared fitting adaptor for the LPG connection. I only had one LPG appliance which was a space heater so I decided to "standardize" on that (3/8 FL connection). I recommend that all LPG connections in your household be the same so that if you have a regulator go bad, you are not "stuck" until you can buy a new one.

So now that I had all my fittings it was time to test the unit. Here is a photo of it all set up for testing with a garden hose attached

Here you can see the Gas, incoming water, and outgoing water (shower) connection. The shower was not all that impressive. It is better than a cold shower however :-) Do not plan on using a conventional shower head with it as they are designed to flow at 2 1/2 gal/min.

The round thing on the right is the "indicator panel". When the control is on (water flowing and power switched on) it shows that water is flowing, burner is firing, and the temperature of the outgoing water. The only "inconvenience" is that it gives temperature in deg/C. I classify it as an inconvenience because who really monitors the precise temperature of their shower or bath?

With everything hooked up I fired it up for the first time. Everything worked perfectly and operated just like any other tankless heater. Water started at 11 deg/C and went up to 36 at full flow and burner. Backing off the flow where you could still "shower" with it, the temperature went to ~40 deg/C.

Overall impressions

I cannot at this point speak about long term reliability. That will be a wait and see matter. One nice thing is that it is self contained and can be used anywhere. This makes it great also for a camper. with a bit of plumbing, you have hot water at your sink and a warm shower. From what I have seen so far, I would not recommend a unit of this size for household use except over a sink (and a shower in a pinch). For that I would recommend at least a 4 L/min unit so you can also use the shower more effectively.

One thing I am also looking at this unit for is Hydronic heating. If you put a 2 gpm pump inline with it and then PEX tubing under your floor, it could be used to heat your space. Simply tie the pump to a thermostat for heat. I would also recommend a temperature switch in the return line. Pump comes on, heater fires and warms the water circulating in your floor where the heat rises into your space. At this point that looks like a relatively easy way to heat even a home. Please keep in mind however as at this point this is simply me thinking out loud :-)

"Bottom line"

I would highly recommend this unit for a cabin or camper. For a home (if you only do "showers") buy a unit that is capable of at least 4 gal/min.

Water (part 3b) Filtration assembly

Now its time to put it all together. I will begin with the holding tank modifications.

On the tank you can see three changes.

• I added a coupling to the tap to the filter unit. This was done so that I can easily connect to another water source.
• Added a return line. This is a water return for the RO filter. It is also "Tee'd" at the filtration/pump unit so that I can bleed air out of the system. The ability to bleed out air was something very important that I overlooked in my original design. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID AND OVERLOOK THIS!
• At the cap is the hose coming from my aquarium aerator pump. This goes to a large air stone in the bottom of the tank. I cycle this a couple times a week to keep the water "fresh".

Now on to the actual handling unit. One note here, the handling unit is not "neat and tidy". It is still a "work in progress" but the basics are there now.

Water from the tank comes directly in to the pump via the 1/2 inch line. The pump then goes directly up to the manifold on top. The copper riser on the gauge is there for dampening the gauge. Before I installed that the first water pressure gauge actually shook itself apart. This is a "problem" with high pressure diaphragm pumps. They can "hammer" quite severely each time they cycle.

The first ball valve feeds the filter unit. The second ball valve was originally to feed a sink with the same pump. Its main purpose now however is to "bleed air" out of the pump intake line and the filters. In the photo, you can barely see the "Tee" I mentioned earlier on the return line to the tank.

You can use the bleed valve for two conditions.

• The first is when you get too much air in the intake line. If this is the case, you will hear the pump running "fast" and not actually pumping water or see that there is no water in the intake tube at the pump.  At that point, open the bleed valve completely until most all of the air has been pumped out of the line.
• The second condition is with initial commissioning or changing filters. You will know there is air in your filters by frequent cycling of the pump. The other indication is the pump running close to full speed and then slowing as it approaches its pressure set point. The best thing to do after you have changed the filter or are commissioning the system for the first time, is to simply "crack open the valve" and let everything run until you see only water coming out of the return line. Your pump will tell you by the way it behaves if you have air in the system.

So to summarize, if the pump does not draw in water, open the bleed valve all the way until it does. If you are commissioning new filters then simply "crack it open" a bit to give the air someplace to exit the system. Also, always mount your "bleed" at the highest point on the system. This allows the air to "rise" out of the system.

Now we look at the cabinet.

Here you can see why I recommended the "all in one" unit in the last paragraph of the last posting. The only thing you cannot see is the UV unit behind the pump. It is tie wrapped to the filter bracket. One other thing to keep in mind, if you will notice the little black box on the right. This is the ballast for the UV unit. Keep this someplace where you can see it. There is an LED on this box. This LED indicates that the bulb is ok and working.

One thing I cannot stress enough is treatment for parasites and bacteria. KEEP THEM OUT OF YOUR FILTERS! I would recommend keeping on hand unscented pure bleach. If for some reason the UV sterilizer goes bad, and you do not have a replacement bulb, then pretreat the incoming water with the bleach. It will be a bit harder on your filters, but in a pinch it is a whole lot better than getting sick!

Here is a site from the CDC that gives water information including instructions for disinfecting with bleach.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/personal.html

 

If you have to resort to this, you can use the pump to "mix" the bleach in your holding tank. To do this:

• Add the proper amount of bleach to the holding tank.
• close the valve to the filters
• open the bleed valve
• turn on the pump
• Run the pump long enough to completely recirculate the water in the tank 2-3 times

On my unit, I assume I am only pumping 1/2 gallon or so a minute. I have a 30 gallon storage tank. I wish to run this water through the pump twice. that would give about 30 gallons per hour. With this in mind, if I run my pump like this for two hours my water should be thoroughly mixed (especially since I "draw" from the bottom and return to the top). When finished the chlorine will be removed again in the filters. I would also recommend that during this time and for a day afterwards you do not run the aerator (this will "dilute" the chlorine).

 

If there is any interest, I will add a post with the actual plumbing diagram.

Water (part 3a) Filtration components

It's finally complete. I now have the capacity for 30 gallons of water in the Box. From this I can either use it directly, or for drinking, divert through a reverse osmosis filter system and tap directly from the pressure tank. Unfortunately, it turns out I did a LOT more work than I needed to. More on this later.

The system as it exists now, is also suitable if you are wishing to prepare for an emergency water source. As I wrote earlier, CLEAN WATER is most likely the single most overlooked item (or "understocked" item) on any list of emergency supplies. If you live in a tornado or other area where natural disasters can occur, then you may want to take a close look at this for daily AND emergency use.

All of my components were from Ebay and after fixing the "leaks due to loose hoses and fittings" seems to be working very well. First the components of the handling and filtration system. I am including a link to the "auction" along with a photo of the item. Be aware that at some point however the link may go dead.

First up the UV "disinfecting" unit. As far as I am concerned, this is most likely THE single most important item in the system. Although I have not done so, I would recommend this come even before the pump (and be "sized" for the flow rate of the pump). The reason for this is if you use water directly (bypassing the filters), you will at least kill any bacteria in it first. This in line with the "sand filter" I built should be plenty "clean" to at least shower with or wash dishes and general cleaning. Here are some links to UV water treatment:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_germicidal_irradiation

http://www.harvesth2o.com/uv.shtml#.VSVTEWd0ypo

www.water-research.net/Waterlibrary/privatewell/UVradiation.pdf

This and more information can be found by entering the search term "uv water treatment". Be aware that all of these units I have seen so far need a source of AC power to operate. More on this later.

Here is the unit I bought

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UV-sterilizer-Water-filter-1-gpm/221738767484?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D777000%26algo%3DABA.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131227121020%26meid%3D13ab1316b522498185138dcc157437c6%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D391108662057

This is a 1 gallon per minute unit that works fine inline with my RO system.

Next the pump. Here is what I have

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181392820089?_trksid=p2057872.m2748.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

This is a 100psi ~1 gallon per minute (4 Liter/min) pump. A diaphragm pump is important firstly to reach the pressure necessary for the RO filter. One note I should make here is that this pump regulates pressure with a spring loaded switch. I had A LOT of problems with this working correctly. It was inconsistent in shutting off at the 100 psi. Also if it went over pressure, it leaked. After much trial and error, I finally "tuned it" to where it would shut off at 70 psi, and turn on at 60 psi. Also something that should be noted with this pump is that the feet are in a dovetail. I first mounted it with the pump head up. This resulted in the pump vibrating out of its feet. I recommend mounting it horizontally or with the pump head down to prevent this.

Now I encountered a slight problem. The pump is 12 volt DC and the UV sterilizer is 120 volt AC. Since a sterilizer is not readily available for 12 volt DC power, and I want to use a single power source, I had to buy a power supply for the pump. Since the pump is 12 volts and draws 3 amps full load, this means I need a power supply capable of 36 watts (volts x amps = watts, when dealing with DC).

For a power supply I got this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/371117456686?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=640277552001&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The unit I bought has a 3 amp output. One of the surprising things I found about this particular unit is that it is "current limiting". This means it will not put out more than 3 amp. This also means there is no reason for a circuit breaker on the DC side. It can also take a wide range of AC power in both voltage and frequency. One added benefit of it is that it does not come on immediately. The reason this is an advantage is that it allows the UV light to come on before the pump comes on (ensuring ALL water that passes through the system is treated properly.

Lastly is the filtration unit itself

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140464920711?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I could find no rating for "gallons per day" output, but I assume from using it is somewhere in the 50-100 range. The most important feature of THIS system is the pressure tank. Because of this I can pump the tank full and then turn off the power and still have flowing water at the tap (until the tank is empty).

One last item you should have in case of power outage. A small inverter is wonderful to provide the power you need for the system from a car battery. I have this unit as a backup if the need should arise

http://www.harborfreight.com/200-watt-continuous400-watt-peak-power-inverter-61478.html

200 watts is fine for running the pump power supply and the UV filter. Keep in mind however that, if you are running ANY inverter from a car battery, do not drain the battery very much. Car starting batteries are not made to "deep-cycle" (which means draining it to almost empty and then recharging it). The best way to operate using this method is to run the vehicle engine while the inverter is running. A 200 watt inverter should be able to take all its power from the alternator while the engine is running.

In the next section I will go in to detail and photos of how the whole system is put together. Before that however, you get to benefit from my "mistakes". After I had assembled everything and had it working I found THIS on Ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reverse-Osmosis-Ultraviolet-Sterilizer-Water-Filter-System-UV-RO-6-Stage-100-GPD-/261561736325?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce64b5c85

This unit has everything you need except for the pump (and components associated with the pump). It will save a WHOLE LOT of work plus you get 3 additional pre-filters and a "handy-dandy" rack. With this you could build the entire system in to a "hard case" and be completely portable. Oh well, "live and learn".