Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooomer
this does pose a challenge. If I run it as I proposed I will only have a net heat gain from electrical resistance the compressor is using. Still should be a KW or more but probably not as much as an electric vented dryer. Then again my current condensing dryer is horrible so we'll see. My goal would be to dry clothes in an hour with large energy savings.
One of the things I'd like to do is set things up so that I can add the humidity to the house during winter months. This would save me having to add one to my current heat pumps.
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I think this is a great project, and you are blazing a new trail, I encourage you to keep blazing.
One thing you will have going for you is an ACTIVE de-humidifying component that regular dryers do not have. That really counts a lot.
I do see a potential problem... that you will need to monitor frost build-up on your evaporator (that is how it actively extracts humidity). And you will need to provide some way for the periodic melting of frost (don't use resistance heat).
This frost build-up is a feature and a problem... but it can be solved.
You might find that your new dryer will need to periodically stop all but its de-frost activities, and then kick back on after de-frost is done.
I'm just guessing that your dryer will end up more efficient, but it might not be so fast.
Keep going, this is a great project!
Oh, and it just occurred to me that most appliances are built as cheaply as possible, and that while you have 'the beast' apart, you can do things that a manufacturer would not do because of cost, like put in insulation to retain heat, and maybe heavy tar-paper applied inside with some kind of mastic.
-AC