outside tap, winter protection

[stuvy]

Afternoon all, Our land lady popped over today to ask if id turn the outside tap off. Iv turned it off at the outside stop cock. Now for my question, Do you leave the tap open to let any water trapped inside run out of it? iv lagged it all but dont want a big frozen mess in the garden!

 

[rtbcomp]

I would, especially if the stop-cock is a modern one with a check-valve built in.

Is the outside stop-cock actually outside, or inside but just serves the garden tap?

 

[stuvy]

theres one under the sink for the house, and a separate one in the old toilet/wash house, there isnt a toilet anymore but if the water butts running low we can use the tap from there. if i stuck the freezer thats clogging up valuable space in my lock up would the heat from the motor be enough to warm enough to keep the frost at bay?

 

[rtbcomp]

It might. Can you insulate and draught-proof the brick outhouse?

 

[stuvy]

its painted white or faded cream, there is a door on the front but not the best fit in the world. My dad said not only lagging but a load of hesian to help wrap around it would be enough

 

[rtbcomp]

Repaint it red, much warmer.

 

[Shox Dr]

Repaint it red, much warmer.

Blue is faster

 

[stuvy]

Blue is faster

only if it has a racing stripe, i might as well fit tacky blue neons whilst im at it

 

[voipio]

A freezer doesn't produce much in the way of waste heat when the temperature of it's surroundings is low. At a guess, 50 watts is probably all you'll get out of it in a cold shed the winter. 50 watts in a confined space, such as a tool chest would make a difference though.

 

[rtbcomp]

You could always put some buckets of water in it and freeze them down overnight.

A 100w freezer should produce about 300w of heat.

 

[brightspark]

You could always put some buckets of water in it and freeze them down overnight.

A 100w freezer should produce about 300w of heat.

how does that work then ,is this some new technology put 100watt in and get 300watts out get it patented

 

[rtbcomp]

100 watts comes from the electricity you put in and about 200 watts from cooling and freezing the water. Latent heat of fusion. That's basically how heat pumps work, you need less electricity to move heat from one place to another than the heat you move.

 

[Alfaman]

how does that work then ,is this some new technology put 100watt in and get 300watts out get it patented

What he said!

Latent heat of fusion. That's basically how heat pumps work, you need less electricity to move heat from one place to another than the heat you move.

Sorry, but Balls. Laws of thermodynamics etc....

i might as well fit tacky blue neons whilst im at it

Are you some kind of boy racer then

 

[Shox Dr]

As I understand it. A freezer removes heat. The bucket will be warmer than the desired temp in the freezer, so the heat produced by the condensing coil will contain that heat.

How much energy it takes to move that heat from the inside to the outside depends on the efficiently of the freezer.

Once the freezer is down to temp, unless you open the freezer or put more warm food in, then the pump only needs to keep the temp stable due to heat ingress through poor insulation.

If the ambient temp is the same as the set temp of the freezer then the freezer has no need to work, so no heat can be moved. hence the need to put water in it

 

[rtbcomp]

Dr Shox is right. The freezer moves heat from the cold side to the hot side.

Sorry, but Balls. Laws of thermodynamics etc.... And the same to you sir! If what I said wasn't true then heat pumps wouldn't be used for heating water &c. They take heat from the air or ground and pump it into the water. If that didn't use less electricity than the heat transferred you might as well use an immersion heater.

 

[flash of light]

in other words its taking the heat from the hot bucket of water inside andmoving it outside.

 

[flash of light]

its how a lot of sweden is heated. from the warm ground and takes it inside the house. better than having a 5 bar bar heater anyway

 

[Shox Dr]

In 1 word; YES

Fridges and freezers do not cool they remove heat, the insulation keeps the removed heat from returning

 

[the snooper]

yeah it does that ive just been reading up on it but in our climate its not that efficient to use for heating and using a bucket of hot water is not efficient at all because you will need more energy to heat the water in the first place.
but an electrical resistance heater that uses 1 joule of electricity will put out 1 joule of heat
a heat pump that uses 1 joule of electricity can move much more then 1 joule of heat but the heat source would have to be a free one for it to be cost effective so although ron is right its not really a viable way for us to heat anything

 

[rtbcomp]

in other words its taking the heat from the hot bucket of water inside andmoving it outside.

Yes.

Another idea might be to have a big tub of water in the shed.

With insulation and draught-proofing the rate of heat leaving the shed will be reduced and the temperature drop slowed down. When the ambient temperature inside is lower than that of the water heat will transfer from the water into the shed, this will have the effect of slowing down the temperature drop.

With right insulation and mass of water you could delay freezing point being reached until the outside warms up in the morning, at which point heat will be transferred back into the shed.