The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy infrastructure woes

Post by sidewndr46 » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 4:54 PM UTC

jcynix wrote: post #238

sidewndr46 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is English a second language for you? I ask not because I am trying to insult, but what you are describing is just called geothermal heat in North America. It can also work in reverse if the air temperature is higher than the ground temperature. Also, you have your units wrong. Electrical demand is measured in just kilowatts (kw). Actual usage is in kilowatts-hours (kwh) which is just an unusual way of saying joules.

Energy is specified in KWh here, i.e. we have a metering system installed which states that our heat pump delivered 128024 KWh of heat and the electricity company's metering system tells me that it used 34844 KWh of electrical energy to do this. Anyway, for one unit input we got about 3.6 units of output, which has been produced with an almost zero carbon footprint, as we buy only ecologically produced electricity. A…

Post by gdubs » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

opwieurposiu wrote: post #209

gdubs wrote: post #207

I’m not sure if this is a stupid idea, but I think of all the energy people spend in places like LA to heat their pools even in the very warm months, while blasting AC inside. This seems like a pretty good opportunity for using a heat pump to take the cold pool water and use that as a heat sink for the hot indoor air. Or is there something about this setup I’m missing?

I used to work at place that installed this exact system. You can get an extra 2-3 months a year use of your pool in warm climates. It does work but we sold way more geothermal systems then these pool based systems. Issues: Building inspectors do not like it because it is non-standard. Copper is attacked by wet chlorine so you have to use stainless heat exchangers and plastic pipe. Pool filter must be constantly main…

Post by paul_f » Fri, Jul 09, 2021, 12:45 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #199

paul_f wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe has milder winters than many parts of the world. A downside of a heat pump is the limitation on temperature range. A heat pump could never be used in Minnesota, people would freeze.

Ground source heat pumps work anywhere. Also, it's common to have a heat pump paired with resistance heating for when you're pushing the bottom of the range where the heat pump is useful (somewhere between -10 and 20℉ depending on the hardware). That has similar issues with peak load to AC in the summer but most people do not live in places which are consistently so cold that you don't have a significant amount of ti…

Post by cartoonworld » Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #251

cartoonworld wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but only if it is flowing across the deposit. If you do the "bare minimum 140f once a day" method, you have to flush all the hot lines with this for long enough to kill it. All this also presumes correct thermostatic calibration and generally even temperature distribution in a system planned to age with minimal maintenance. The process isn't instant, you also have to ensure the hot water hits all the lines down…

Well, energy savings. Where I am, you’re not allowed to deliver water to fixtures higher than 49C (120F), to reduce scalding risk. and this is usually accomplished through a mixing valve at the hot water tank outlet. 11m people live here, haven’t heard of any evidence of increased legionnaires: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r04023