View Single Post
Old 06-09-13, 07:03 PM   #2
AC_Hacker
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
AC_Hacker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 4,004
Thanks: 303
Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by NiHaoMike View Post
I noted that even during the peak of Texas summer, the cold water is still too cold to shower with, especially in the morning. So why not use a heat pump to dehumidify the house (and provide a little cooling) in order to reduce the load on the main A/C units as well as provide "free" hot water during the summer?...
Full speed ahead on your project! Sounds great.

My only caution would be that brazed plate HXs are really efficient, but given that you want to do an open loop project, a brazed plate HX will be prone to fouling, over time. This is due to the fact that in closed loop situations, there is a limited amount of 'foulants' (did I just coin a new word?) but in an open source the supply of foulants is unlimited.

Tube-in-tube (or similar) would be the correct choice here. Acquario and also Randen have successfully built their own tube-in-tube HXs... check them out.

-AC
__________________
I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...

Last edited by AC_Hacker; 06-10-13 at 07:54 AM..
AC_Hacker is offline   Reply With Quote