Quest: Hot water heater for shop

[adamant]

I need hot water in my shop to wash hands ect .. not looking for somethingbig but want to use my owb to heat it. I was thinking of plate heat exchanger would be sufficient along with A 15 gallon hot water heater. What's your guys recommendations

[r.man]

For that amount of hot water I would build the easiest, cheapest heat exchanger I could and it will probably have too much capacity. Loop a 1/2 inch copper pipe out the bottom, up the side and back into the top of whatever tank you are using. Make sure you can bleed air off the top of the pipe if there is a dead area there.  Run the hot OWB pipe, uninsulated pex or copper, next to as much of the vertical pipe as you can and secure them to each other for contact with zip ties or something similar. Use it for a while and adjust accordingly. If the water is too hot separate some of the length of pipe by either putting an air space between or separating with a thin piece of insulating material. If the water is not hot enough surround the two pipes with an insulating material.

[LittleJohn]

Look into building a sidearm!!!

...just make sure you but a thermostatic mixing valve on water heater then.  Cause I am 100% certain 180f water will scald you, unless that is what you are going for.

[beenthere]

As long as the shop is heated, then just a supply of water that is at room temp would be sufficient for hand washing. At least for me, doesn't have to be hot water.

But for hot water and hand washing, just have a hot plate with a tea kettle or similar on it. Heat the water when it is needed and use a wash basin.

[r.man]

I agree with littlejohn that a regular sidearm would make a tank hotter than needed which is why I am suggesting the modified sidearm which should do the job but be cheaper and easier to build.

[gspren]

  I have a small outbuilding (Man-cave) with a sink and toilet and I use a cast iron radiator to get heat from my OWB to keep it about 60F. First year I kept a tea kettle on the radiator for warm water but now I just wash my hands with cold, no big deal for me.

[adamant]

We will be doing some moping so definitely need a hot water heater..

[adamant]

lokt to add this 6 gal unit. all the sidearm heat exchangers seem to long and expensive. i was thinking of a plate exchanger.. what is your thoughts?

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18611/d7b978ee-ae3b-4edc-aa21-9464c79c5cd2_1000.jpg

[LittleJohn]

Plate HX work just fine, but require pumps on both sides to move water.  They also recover faster because of the pump

Where sidearms typically only require a pump on the OWB side and ghost flow to move the water on the tank side