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KOS If you come up with something new it pays not to post it these days.

Are you saying that he should remain ignorant? The idea of discussion is that we might do some learnin'.

EDIT: Not saying that KOS is ignorant in general, but about sacrificial anodes. Even our former scrap metal dealer didn't know about them. Cheers for the extra link, matti.
 
Are you saying that he should remain ignorant? The idea of discussion is that we might do some learnin'.

EDIT: Not saying that KOS is ignorant in general, but about sacrificial anodes. Even our former scrap metal dealer didn't know about them. Cheers for the extra link, matti.

Not at all. Just that these threads at times seem to be a panacea for self-appointed luminaries to scare-monger. KOS has gone from a sacrificial anode to a sacrificial lamb. He merely thought he was giving a good tip in regards to a saving on energy costs by passing his water through a hot water heater that really doesn't present the water to anything scarier than that of a cold water pipe.

I dare say plenty of people have grimy uncleaned HLTs too. Effectively a worse medium than a domestic HWS that at least has water continually passing through it.

Edit: I'll rephrase to a degree. If your HWS is fairly new I'd say no worries. If its a little dated I'd say that common sense would prevail.

Warren -
 
Fair enough. As I said, if the water doesn't smell or taste off, use it. Mine does. 12 year old heater.
 
Fair enough. As I said, if the water doesn't smell or taste off, use it. Mine does. 12 year old heater.

:lol: You have a gem then... Isn't a given that they only have a 10 year duty cycle these days.

Scary actually, ours is a 5 year old Aquamax and it's already blown a control unit. $400 later and five minutes work from the Plumber its functioning again. <_<

Warren -
 
I always use hot water from the tap...but then I have a Rinai on-demand LPG system.
+1 me too.

Where is Darren anyway? he could have a field day on this subject, just think about the BOTULISM risk........

Steve
 
Had mine looked at by a plumber last year. He replaced the pressure relief valve, adjusted the thermostat and gave it a clean bill of health. I don't like the water quality, but that's just me. It's only got to last me 18 more months and I'll be happy. New one goes in my new house.
 
:lol: King of Spain merely asks this (or actually states his findings). Funny how threads tend to take on a life of their own. <_<

KOS If you come up with something new it pays not to post it these days.

Warren -

I certainly hope KOS hasn't taken offence. Some have poo-poo'd the idea, but as far as I can see, it's all in the name of collating information.

I'll reply to a topic even if I don't have the answer to the question asked if I think I can at least add some relevant information that someone would find useful. This isn't limited to the original poster either, I try to post with the future forum searcher in mind as well. I'd hope most others do the same.

Hot water to fill up your HLT... I like the idea personally, others don't :shrugs:
 
Out of interest, where is this sacrificial anode placed?? 30 years in the scrap trade & handling thousands of HWS's I've never noticed one. Not saying thet are not there, just curious.

cheers Ross

maby they disolved already <grin>;0
 
I'm actually glad KOS bought this up. I've just 'discoverd' the joys of water from the hot water system to reduce the length my brew day.
Whilst all this fear and talk of disolved metals etc may or may not be true. It does ask the question, is it safe to use stored hot water from a hot water system. Imagine if no one questioned the use of Asbestos?

I like the idea of using pre-heated water, but will be doing a bit more reading now as things like the anode I'd never even heard of before.
 
maby they disolved already <grin>;0

Basically, by the time Ross saw them, they would have been a little steel wire hanging into the tank. The reason most enameled tanks fail is because the anode finishes sacrificing itself and the tank itself begins to corrode. If he only saw copper and stainless tanks, they don't need anodes (but cost a shitload).
 
Basically, by the time Ross saw them, they would have been a little steel wire hanging into the tank. The reason most enameled tanks fail is because the anode finishes sacrificing itself and the tank itself begins to corrode. If he only saw copper and stainless tanks, they don't need anodes (but cost a shitload).

Ahhhhh.... that explains it, we only cut open & recycled copper ones :)
 
So, in theory would any of this apply to instant hot water heaters?

(In theory only for me as I've gone back to filtering my brewing water so cold only for me. It's hardly an issue though as I usually use 4kg or so of grain and the 12L of water for mash in takes 5-10 minutes with the NASA. :) )
 
So, in theory would any of this apply to instant hot water heaters?

(In theory only for me as I've gone back to filtering my brewing water so cold only for me. It's hardly an issue though as I usually use 4kg or so of grain and the 12L of water for mash in takes 5-10 minutes with the NASA. :) )

Not if it's gas, for sure. And I doubt that an instant electric system would need such a thing either.
 
Interesting tangent this thread has headed. I always thought the only difference in hot water would be less dissolved oxygen. But corrosion is a big deal in Perth water, I had to replace my last HWS which had corroded out, and the plumber suggested you need to replace the anode every few years in Perth. There are companies that make a business out of doing only that, replacing anodes in hot water systems. So, thinking about it....

The anode is a quite long but small diameter rod, maybe it would weigh 1 kg.
The average water consumption in western society is about 200 l/person/day
I am going to guess about 20% of total consumption is hot water
A house with 2 people in it would use 200*20%*2*365 = about 30,000 l/year
If "a few years" from my plumber = 4 years, the total water through the system = 120,000 l
1 kg of anode dissolved in that water is an average concentration of 8 mg/l

In reality some of that anode metal would probably form non bio-available complexes, and there would be a fair variation depending on how long the water was in the tank, but still, as a ballpark number, thats quite high.
If my anode is zinc, then I wouldnt like to be drinking more than 2 l of my hot water a day.
If my anode is magnesium, then I wouldnt be concerned about that level at all and would drink loads of hot water
Aluminium limits arent very well defined, but I would prefer not to drink much of my hot water at 8 mg/l aluminium.

Might go find out what my anode is made of.
 
Is it correct to assume that all of that anode will end up dissolved in the water? Surely some would end up rattling around on the bottom of the tank? And further to that, doesn't the presence of an anode imply a chemical reaction is taking place? Therefore, is it actually the metal itself that is being dissolved in the water? Perhaps its just a compound that contains that metal? I am far from an expert in this stuff, so I am certainly not disputing what others have said, just providing a bit of food for thought...
 
Is it correct to assume that all of that anode will end up dissolved in the water? Surely some would end up rattling around on the bottom of the tank? And further to that, doesn't the presence of an anode imply a chemical reaction is taking place? Therefore, is it actually the metal itself that is being dissolved in the water? Perhaps its just a compound that contains that metal? I am far from an expert in this stuff, so I am certainly not disputing what others have said, just providing a bit of food for thought...

It will depend on the pH and what else is in the water, in Perth where my water is at pH 8.5, most of the metal will not be in solution and isnt really available for biological uptake, but when I acidify my water for brewing, a lot of it will come back into solution.
 
Why not just run hot tap water through a carbon filter? That way you get your hot water and all the metals and gunk are filtered out... :huh:
 
Interesting tangent this thread has headed. I always thought the only difference in hot water would be less dissolved oxygen. But corrosion is a big deal in Perth water, I had to replace my last HWS which had corroded out, and the plumber suggested you need to replace the anode every few years in Perth. There are companies that make a business out of doing only that, replacing anodes in hot water systems. So, thinking about it....

The anode is a quite long but small diameter rod, maybe it would weigh 1 kg.
The average water consumption in western society is about 200 l/person/day
I am going to guess about 20% of total consumption is hot water
A house with 2 people in it would use 200*20%*2*365 = about 30,000 l/year
If "a few years" from my plumber = 4 years, the total water through the system = 120,000 l
1 kg of anode dissolved in that water is an average concentration of 8 mg/l

In reality some of that anode metal would probably form non bio-available complexes, and there would be a fair variation depending on how long the water was in the tank, but still, as a ballpark number, thats quite high.
If my anode is zinc, then I wouldnt like to be drinking more than 2 l of my hot water a day.
If my anode is magnesium, then I wouldnt be concerned about that level at all and would drink loads of hot water
Aluminium limits arent very well defined, but I would prefer not to drink much of my hot water at 8 mg/l aluminium.

Might go find out what my anode is made of.

Thanks for doing the maths, GL. The way I did the math (a lot like my brewing) was just to look at a pic of the rod and imagine eating it over 5-7 years. Um, no thanks. Obviously a lot of it end up down the drain with the laundry detergent, dish water and shower, but even so...
 
Why not just run hot tap water through a carbon filter? That way you get your hot water and all the metals and gunk are filtered out... :huh:

Just checked my own filter and it's operating range is from 4 - 82 degrees C. So to me that's the best solution. Crank the hot tap and run it through the filter. B)
 
Not at all. Just that these threads at times seem to be a panacea for self-appointed luminaries to scare-monger.

And likewise there are the self-appointed people who read far too much into some comments...

Scare-mongering, information gathering, debate, discussion...I see it as the latter 2 myself...

People "happily" inhabit temperatures of between 10 and 30 degrees, but are also found in areas where the temparature is -60 or +50 as well...
 
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