I want to build a heater system for my wife's clawfoot. Safety is paramount, so no 120v pumps or heating elements in the tub. that rules out livestock tank heaters and submersible pond pumps. I will need a small tank with a self-contained heating element and a siphon type pump. all components must be wired outside of the tub.
as for the heating tank; a 3 gallon RV type water heater could work, so long as it can run on 120v instead of 240v. power source is a standard GFCI outlet just behind the water valve tower. her ciclid tank uses a Fluval canister pump that siphons from the tank and has a return hose. however, i watch her swear and fight with it every time she cleans it. she then has to manually hand-pump prime it afterwards. were talking 10-15 mins of lifing/pumping a small oil-dipstick-looking thing, sometimes resulting in blisters on her finger. thats not a good way to start a relaxing soak session.
i have already shopped for pre-made kit or setup. I can't find anything. I found one mfgr with one full-function jacuzzi clawfoot. had I found this 4 years ago i *might* have sprung for it, but it was 2x the price of picrel and we were already stretched thin on the construction budget. it is only 3 years old, installed and paid for.
OK, Anon... let's brainstorm.
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Anonymous06/09/26(Tue)02:42:46
Doesn't filling it with hot water warm up the tub?
yes, but it cools since it's a clawfoot and exposed to airflow on all sides. as a full-time farmwife she only gets a few long, uninterrupted, evening hours per month. when she can manage it, she likes to soak for an hour or longer. I want to maintain the temperature a little longer.
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Anonymous06/09/26(Tue)03:36:28
>>2994801(OP) >Fluval canister pump that siphons from the tank and has a return hose. however, i watch her swear and fight with it every time she cleans it Eheim master race
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Anonymous06/09/26(Tue)04:12:06
Easy.
You need the element from a cheap electric kettle, a small screen filter you can place in front of the inlet of a circulation pump, and some hoses and fittings. For bonus points, include a temperature controller, and set it up so all it needs is a cup of water on the submersible pump to get it going with a float switch.
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Anonymous06/09/26(Tue)04:26:50
>>2994805 Just insulate the tub. Clawfoots are stupid.
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Anonymous06/09/26(Tue)13:21:49
I bet the vast majority of the heat escapes through evaporation from the free surface. You can estimate the power you need by filling the tub with a known volume lg of water, measure the initial temperature, the final temperature, and the time between the two readings.
>>2994870 The dude that died and wasn't discovered for like a week so he turned to soup, and I think his femur slid right out of his leg like an overcooked chicken when the medical examiner pulled on it? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and I do too.
2994915 (1) 2994809 (2) 2994812 (3) 2994854 (4) 2994867 (5) 2994870 (6) 2994906 (7) 1) perhaps a valid suggestion. tub is acrylic. I will need to research heat produced by block heater & acrylic heat tolerance. there is also the issue that acrylic is an insulator, not a conductor of heat. good suggestion though. thanks.
2) interesting. I will also research this one. I read through some reviews on amazon. I see one that mentions priming difficulty, which is the main (only?) complaint wife has with her ciclid setup.
3) I dont want to use any submersible pump in the bathtub with her. wife is awesome, unicorn-hot & I actually like her, so i dont want to make boiled wife soup. odds of fatal malfunction are low... but never zerø.
4) as for that part of the equation, I can just install a thermostat in series to pump circuit. realistically though, I doubt any 120v element i find is going to generate too much heat relative to the oversize bathtub water circulating through the pump/heater system i hope to build.
5) already thought about various versions of this, but arrived at a hard "no" on wife soup. she is insured for $750k with a term policy, but she's awesome, irreplaceable & a smokeshow. I'd prefer to keep her in the Land Of The Living.
6) exactly.
7) Gen X
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Anonymous06/10/26(Wed)15:48:46
>>2994801(OP) if only there was some kind of heater for water... a "water heater" if you will. but alas...
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Anonymous06/10/26(Wed)15:49:48
>>2994805 >as a full-time farmwife she only gets a few long, uninterrupted, evening hours per month. dude she's totally diddling herself.
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Anonymous06/10/26(Wed)16:17:46
Inline hot tub heating element wouldn't work? Dunno if there are any 120v options or not. He'll it might even move the water by convection if you did it right. Temp sensor on the inlet could make it thermostat controllable and you wouldn't have a loud pump running. Hell a 110v tankless water heater might could be stuffed up behind the tub and do the same thing.
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Anonymous06/10/26(Wed)16:28:01
>>2994978 On the real, double tap connectors would probably solve your priming issues since they allow you to both preserve suction and prefill the can without making a mess.
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Anonymous06/10/26(Wed)16:35:32
>>2994992 we have an 80gal heat-pump water heater. we dont lack hot water, im trying to maintain the temperature for longer soak sessions.
>>2994993 good. she should. I bought her a Lush 4 aboot 6 months ago. in what possible way would that be a bad thing? warming the engine increases performance.
>>2995002 I will look into the inline hot tub elements. I feel I have several good options for the heating aspect. at this point is more about the circulating pump system. I need something that *does not involve any electrical wires in the tub* so that rules out submersible pumps. I need a siphon-type pump to pull water out of tub, through/across a heating chamber/element then return to tub. the main hang up here is the *no wires in tub* aspect. slightly lower down on the list is how/where to heat the water, but really that could be solved with an RV style small 120v(?) water heater or another above mentioned solution. basically, I cant drill and mount an element in a paint bucket, so i need something more designed for the temperature and job.
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Anonymous06/11/26(Thu)06:49:16
>>2995005 >at this point is more about the circulating pump system. You're not going to need much of a pump unless she wants some hard Jacuzzi style jets. Like I said above convection currents might be enough to circulate the water even without a pump. But honestly a hot water circulating pump built for keeping not water in the lines with the water heater clear across the house could be plumbed inline under/behind the tub alongside the heater. There would be zero wires in the water or tub, only an inlet and outlet ports/bungs would have to be added
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Anonymous06/11/26(Thu)15:02:45
>>2994801(OP) I'm sorry to hear your wife has clawfoot :( . Is it progressive?
no, its terminally Conservative. in its current stage it has caused her to be a full-time homemaker, rancher, EDC conceal, and led daily home cooking. there is no cure, only comfort-care.