# Beer keg water heater



## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

You guys remember I posted a pic of my home made beer keg hot water preheater sitting on top of my coal stove a few weeks back? Well the verdict is in. My winter time electric bills run about $75 and my meter is read every other month. My newest bill is $24. Since last bill was estimated high I figure I am saving around $25 per month using my new contraption. Not too bad. It will pay for itself in a little over one winter’s use. I’m happy!


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

I must have missed that post.
My first thought from the title, "who is sick enough to want warm beer?"

:vs_laugh:


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

I didn’t go back for the original post........ too lazy! Basically I just run my cold water into and thru an old beer keg that sits on my coal stove. The water picks up heat before going into the electric water heater. No frills or controls. Just plain and cheap........ But it works.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Chiefster23 said:


> I didn't go back for the original post........ too lazy! Basically I just run my cold water into and thru an old beer keg that sits on my coal stove. The water picks up heat before going into the electric water heater. No frills or controls. Just plain and cheap........ But it works.


How does it relieve pressure as the water heats if there is nothing being drawn? As a teenager I saw an "empty" keg explode when tossed in a fire, one person lost their life.

Link to original post? I missed it, my computer crapped out two months ago and I'm just getting caught up..........but now I know how to take apart my laptop and diagnose software/hardware problems.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I hope you have a relief valve on it.

I use a keg for a water distiller.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

There is no relief valve in the keg right now. I went cheap just to make sure it works as planned. It feeds hot water directly into the hot water heater which does have a relief valve. The relief valve on the hot water tank will protect both the hot water heater and the beer keg. The outlet of the electric hot water heater also has an expansion tank which helps with expansion due to water temperature.

My coal stove doesn’t operate at a temperature high enough to boil the water in the keg so there is no danger of the keg exploding. I built this whole system on a shoestring budget to begin with. In the spring, when the coal stove is shut off, I will do an upgrade and install more valves, a bypass, a drain, and a relief valve. The relief valve (required by code) would only ever operate if the water outlet was shut off thus isolating the keg from the electric hot water tank.

Yes, operating a keg as a distiller would require a relief valve because of the water boiling. You should install a relief valve anywhere you have the possiblity of increasing pressure and valving that could isolate that portion of the system.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

Just to supply a little more info.......
There are companys that build water heater coils that get installed inside a stove. These coils could definately heat to the point of having the water inside the tube boil. Using this type of system would require a circulation pump and controls to prevent overheating. This gets expensive and complicated. Simply setting the keg on top of the stove isn’t very efficient. But it is simple and inexpensive.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

I don’t know how to link threads, sorry. My original post and pic is on page 802of the ‘what was your prep of the day’ thread.


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

Mad Trapper said:


> How does it relieve pressure as the water heats if there is nothing being drawn? As a teenager I saw an "empty" keg explode when tossed in a fire, one person lost their life.
> 
> Link to original post? I missed it, my computer crapped out two months ago and I'm just getting caught up..........but now I know how to take apart my laptop and diagnose software/hardware problems.


you got a pic of that distiller? Just aquired a half barrel keg in my treasure/parts pile. Got a rough idea how to do it, but a pic is worth a thousands words, and hrs of cussing to get it right lol


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

When I was a kid, on top of the garage at the farm was an old copper water heater laid sideways and painted black.

It was filled with water coming from the pump and run into the house's water heater saving gas,

we use to shower directly from it during the summer, would get quite warm in the sun.

Lines and tank were drained for the winter.


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