US 5,983,889 AGranted

Portable water tank heating system

OwnerMark R. Thomasinventor

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Abstract

A portable water tank heating system utilizes a continuous hollow tubular loop that contains a fluid which is circulated through the tubular loop by convection to prevent the water in a drinking tank from freezing. The system is made up of the continuous loop having an outlet line containing hot fluid under relatively higher pressure and a return line containing cold fluid under relatively lower pressure and a protective housing having hot and cold chambers for holding various components including sensors to maintain the temperature of the fluid above freezing in the system. The fluid in the continuous loop flows from a reservoir and travels past a gas burner in the hot chamber for heating the fluid. As the fluid flows through a heat exchanger in a drinking tank, the fluid releases heat to the cold water in the tank before flowing back into the housing through the return line. The fluid then returns to the reservoir to repeat the operational cycle. The housing has air inlet and exhaust ducts and baffles which allow proper air flow for the burner operation even when the system is subjected to severe inclement weather.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A portable water tank heating system for preventing the water in a water tank from freezing, comprising:

a protective housing including a hot chamber and a cold chamber adjacent said hot chamber;
a heat exchanger for positioning in the water of a water tank;
a continuous closed tubular loop member being filled with a fluid which circulates by convection therethrough, said loop member being dimensioned and configured to extend between said housing and said heat exchanger positioned in said water tank;
said loop member having an outlet line associated with said hot chamber and a return line associated with said cold chamber;
wherein said hot chamber includes:
a gas burner for heating the fluid in said outlet line;
wherein said cold chamber includes:
a reservoir for holding the fluid to be supplied to said outlet line;
and
a temperature sensor associated with said return line for activating operation of said gas burner when the fluid returning from said heat exchanger is too cold to prevent the water in the water tank from freezing;
wherein said housing has an air inlet path and an air exhaust path therethrough for permitting sufficient air flow through said housing for proper combustion operation of said burner without causing extinguishment of a flame of said burner.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.