vortex owners how long to heat fresh water

[steve g]

ok I have a serious question about the vortex imagine you get up in the morning and before starting your truck, you fill your fresh tank with 120 gals of cold fresh tap water. you fire up the truck and head out to your first job, my question is how long driving do you think it would take to make this water hot??

 

[Lee Stockwell]

The the tanks and heater we built for our Banes I could get 160 gallons to 180 F. in ten or fifteen minutes of driving. 350 Chevy motor.

 

[steve g]

holy crap, the reason I am asking is I have a 120 gal aluminum tank I bought with an old cub XL I rebuilt, anyways this tank has a large coil in the bottom, actually about the size of a kero burner coil, this was setup so that you could hook up your truck heater hoses to it to heat the water inside it, similar to how a vortex tank works, I was just wondering how long it would take to heat up some cold tap water, the tank is just sitting out back, if it works that good I need to figure out a way to use it

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

It would be nice to have something like that on the cold days.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Posted on Cleanfax almost nine years ago:

JOE/ TRUCKMOUNTS OF THE FUTURE?: Lee Stockwell: 10/23/1999 12:17:24 AM
All 'off the shelf' parts. 2" galv. Tee w/1.75" pipe nipples (or size of your radiator hose) inserted in top and bottom radiator hoses. Third side of tee adapted to 1" x 6" long pipe nipple. One inch hydraulic hose (often discarded sections from farm implement dealer) goes back to water tank. Top 2" radiator tee has 190 F. thermostat held inside by 1.75"dia spring on side near radiator. Leave stock 180 deg thermostat in stock location to allow optimum heater/defrost function. If possible install High flow water-pump on van motor (about $60).

I never use chemicals in my solution tank so my original copper coils are still fine after fifteen years. Bane uses SS coils but they are less efficient at transferring heat.

Heat makes a BIG difference in cleaning speed, effectiveness, and drying time. Now I am moving up again. Adding more heat to my Bane units plus buying a unit with the heat designed in from the beginning. As soon as Duane gets caught up.
Thanks,
Lee....fojl

PS Duane never "caught up" back then, so we ended up buying a couple of big Kero heaters for the Banes, and then buying EZ's a little later.[/i]

 

[Jim Martin]

now this may vary from place to place pending on the weather but............

I fill mine in the evening when I get home...because my fresh tank is at about 130/140 from working all day.............

after adding water and it sitting all night I start my truck up with 90 to 100 degrees water out of the starting gate and as I am going to my first job I am just adding more heat..might want to give it a try instead of allowing all the empty space to cool your tank down to fast...........

 

[steve frasier]

I have no idea how hot the water is but I know I can reach 280 in about 10 minutes of warm up time

I will tap into the customers water at times so I am adding cold water at the same time I am cleaning and can maintain 280 with 010 flow

one local vortex owner put a little giant heater on his machine

 

[steve g]

mikey surely you would know the answer to this one, cold water, empty tank, first thing in the morning, 20 mins on the way to the first job, is the water gonna be past 150 in the fresh tank??

 

[rhyde]

I've never timed it but it's almost always warm when i get to the first job

 

[Mikey P]

mikey surely you would know the answer to this one, cold water, empty tank, first thing in the morning, 20 mins on the way to the first job, is the water gonna be past 150 in the fresh tank??

No.

 

[adamh]

All the new Vs have 220 gallon fresh tanks. That would take longer than your 120 gallon to heat.

Diesel motors do take longer to heat up than a gas motor. I have never tested it but I think 120 gallons after 20 min of driving would be 120-130ish???? If you started with 60 degree water.


After the first job the tank is very hot. If you are looking into doing it in you van, remember its nice in the winter but a heated tank in your van will suck in the summer. You don't have to sit next to any tanks in a Vortex but in a van you would have a hot TM and a hot tank. Just think of the weight you will lose.

 

[Kelly]

Steve....now you know why I am a kero fan. A nice hot tank AFTER the first job dosent sound as good as hot water DURING the first job. Sometimes I wonder how much weight you could loose by dumping that old fashioned pesky troublesome heat exchange system and substitute a real live heater. Of course I suppose if you wait long enough you could get a heat exchanger machine to spike to 300 plus degrees but it wont maintain anything near that for any length of time. Manufacturers who claim high heat capability in their machines never tell you how long the machine can maintain their heat, nor do they tell you how much flow you can run and still maintain consistant cleaning above 200 degrees or so.

 

[Greenie]

As goofy as it sounds, a small LPG heater makes perfect sense on a BIG truck for the guy who wants to actually clean with real hot water first thing in the am, you got tons of room for a Belly tank underneath, you'd only fill it once a month and the heater would only take up one sq. ft. in the truck, you wouldn't even be burning any LPG in the afternoon, it would be a morning boost kind of thing.

 

[steve g]

I would never go back to any type of 2nd fuel heating. its just too much of a PIA, I am pretty happy with the way my HX machine runs, I fire it up as soon as I can and let it heat up while I am getting everything ready, I assume others do the same. If I could get some water that was already a little warm going in, I could clean commercial where I am on the trigger a lot at max temps, however I don't do much of that these days.

 

[The Wizard]

For those cold winter morning starts , have you ever considered purchasing a tankless water heater ?

Fill up your fresh water tank first thing in the morning with your tankless water heater, and keep your fresh water hot all day. For those with a Vortex or Aero Tech and other machines which have built in fresh water tank heaters through coolant lines, these type of set ups will continue to raise the temperature of the water from the tankless water heaters all day long.

Make sure your high pressure water pumps have the high heat vitron seals on them first before implementing a tankless hot water heater.

How much natural gas would one use each day to fill up a 200 gallon fresh water tank, in order to enjoy great heat all day long?

www.tanklesswaterheaterguide.com

The Wizard.

 

[Mike Draper]

I have a Butler with a 110 fresh water tank. I installed a large Aluminum radiator in the tank and ran my radiator lines to them. In the winter when the water is about 50 deg. and outside temp is 15 deg. in the morning it might take 35 minutes to pre-heat the water up to 130 deg. In the summer about 15 minutes. I have installed a lever to turn off the heat when I want because sometimes it's like a damn oven in there. My water temp is much constant now. Especially with tile and grout at 800-1000 psi. It's real nice.

 

[Greenie]

The WIz's idea isn't too bad, I am wondering though, what flow rate do those things support, and how large of one would you need, probably cost a bit more than a Little Giant, but I'm sure natural gas is cheaper than propane so it may be the way to go. But on long days I may want something to boost temps when dual wanding and refilling the tank.

 

[TimP]

I think if you're worried about it the little giant is the way to go unless you want a tank-less for your home for some reason. Gas tank-less heaters are pretty expensive to put in....much more so than a little giant. And if you think about it after your machine has done it's thing to heat the water in the mornings it wont cost near as much for a little giant to finish the job as opposed to a starting from very cold water and heating it then letting your rig finish the job. In addition to the engine in the vortex continuing to heat the water as you work on the job. As an efficiency stand point the little giant, I would bet would be the cheaper way. Not to mention also have more uses as in tile cleaning if you purchase the high pressure model.