[Greenbuilding] Technology for long hot showers

Nick Pyner npyner at tig.com.au
Sun Sep 4 21:24:59 CDT 2011


  -----Original Message-----
  From: sanjay jain [mailto:sanjayjainuk at yahoo.co.uk]
  Sent: Monday, 5 September 2011 11:19 AM
  To: Nick Pyner
  Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Technology for long hot showers


  Nick,


  Please elaborate on why you think recirculating hot water is not
"environmentally kosher".

  I said "could be". It depends on your energy supply system and your
personal habits.

  You could be on an off-peak water heating system. The re-heat means you
have to use a lot of power quickly, and on the spot. If you are taking the
shower in the off-peak period, I guess it isn't such a great problem. But if
you are taking a shower at any other time, the power bill could go through
the roof. At a guess, you would need to use  about 4kW for re-heating but it
would be hard to find a heater actually that small.


  I would have thought it would be the most energy and water efficient
(except the fog system - thanks for that Reuben) way to take a long shower.
You are essentially reusing the water over and over again, and the energy
required to maintain desired temperature would be less than trying to use a
heat recovery method. No?

  Yes, well, in fact, "No" is quite likely to be the correct answer. Even in
a benign climate, a heat exchanger will easily recover 4kW.

  And that is without having to worry about pumps, valves, tanks, and god
knows what all else. Further, the legal issues that may be incurred by
mixing fresh water and grey water are probably best left undiscussed.

  Nobody seems to know how the Quench shower handles all this. I guess
nobody dares to ask.


  Nick Pyner

  Dee Why   NSW




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