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Old 04-26-14, 05:27 PM   #1
nokiasixteth
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Default Using attic heat to dry clothes and help cool the house

I got up in the attic the other day . Measured it was a blazing 134 degrees. It got me thinkin being i dont have a dryer .Noticed Xringer uses it to heat his basement durin the winter. I thought about utilizing the heat built up up there . Run it somehow to the dryer along with the solar air heater i have just blowing heat out every day . Anyone know if that would be feasable. And even to help take a little bit of the cooling load. A


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Old 04-26-14, 08:05 PM   #2
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One issue would be dust and fiberglass fibers etc getting into the clothes. Adding more venting to the soffits is one of many things on the list...
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Old 04-26-14, 08:16 PM   #3
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Ive got the blow in insulation . Cellulose . I dont think it has fiberglass . But i know dust would probably be an issue . Would have to have some sort of active dust filter for sure . Far as ventalation . My house is one of those old ones . I have a 4 foot by 3 foot big vent on the side
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Old 04-26-14, 09:40 PM   #4
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Yup our house has those on the E W and S sides. They will get covered up when I get around to putting in more soffit vents.

I like cellulose insulation but it is extremely dusty. Also the other thing to think about is that it's treated with borates which kill bugs and acts as the fire retardant. Wouldn't want that in my clothes. Though some sort of heat exchanger could be done. Use a metal pipe to duct the air through in the attic. It will absorb quite a bit of heat.
Have run copper hvac line in many houses in the summer and it will get hot enough to burn skin in minutes of being in the attic here.
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Old 04-27-14, 07:31 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nokiasixteth View Post
I got up in the attic the other day . Measured it was a blazing 134 degrees. It got me thinkin being i dont have a dryer .Noticed Xringer uses it to heat his basement durin the winter. I thought about utilizing the heat built up up there . Run it somehow to the dryer along with the solar air heater i have just blowing heat out every day . Anyone know if that would be feasable. And even to help take a little bit of the cooling load. A
This is a really good idea. I have been thinking about how to utilize excess heat from my attic system in the cooling season:http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...bottom-up.html

I've measured the temperature up there and it has already gotten to a peak of 137 F! I've considered for a long time using it to heat water but it seems like more work than it's worth. I even have it plumbed with ducting and a 200 cfm fan that I originally planned for that. But I decided after careful thought that just using net metered PV was a better solution for my electric water heater. Much less stuff to break and leave me taking cold showers.

I think the trick to making this work would be if you could find an electric dryer with a makeup air connection. If they are made (I don't know if they are)then you could kill two birds with one stone. You wouldn't be replacing conditioned air with outside air and you would get a free source of hot air. Just put the dryer in Tumble Only mode with no electric heat whenever you have excess attic heat and you want to dry your clothes while simultaneously cooling the attic.

Anyone know of any dryers with a makeup air connection?
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Old 04-27-14, 08:08 PM   #6
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BTW, if you have an electrical diagram of your existing dryer, and are handy both in electrical and structural subjects, then you could kill three birds with one stone. My kind of stone. First you would wire the dryer blower with an additional manual mode switch isolated from all other functions of the dryer. This would require knowing how to modify it electrically so the power going into that blower does not backfeed into other dryer electrical systems. It might require either diodes or a multiple pole switch that turned off normal power to the dryer while applying power only to the blower.

Second, it might be possible to modify your existing dryer so there is duct connection that bypasses the normal intake vent.

If you did these two things then you wouldn't even need a separate blower.

1. You could use the dryer blower manually just to cool the attic. Hot air would run through the dryer but be unused to dry clothes.

2. You could use it to dry clothes when the attic is hot.

3. No external blower or wiring to it would be required. Just install the ducting. Cheap and simple. My kind of plan.


Edit: Did some research and it really isn't feasible to modify a dryer for makeup air. They just aren't air tight. It makes much more sense to air seal the laundry room and then run a makeup air duct to the ceiling of it from the attic. It could be as simple as replacing louvered doors with solid doors and putting a door wiper seal on the bottom of the doors. If you have a dedicated (small) laundry room then this is definitely the easiest way.

Last edited by Exeric; 04-27-14 at 09:16 PM.. Reason: Did some research
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Old 04-28-14, 07:40 AM   #7
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My laundry room at the moment is quite small . I dont have a dryer right now . All i have is a washer . I use the clothes line to dry clothes never have cared for spending extra money when i could get it free from sun. Ive been thinking on it mainly trying to figure out what would be best to do with that buildup of excess heat. Afterthinking about it and all the dust. Its always dusty . Then with the extra air flow. It would need a filter and im not home most of the time to be able to monitor . It would leave me in a pickle. So im thinking of just ditching that idea and going only to a solar air panel . Prob be a lot cleaner.
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Old 04-28-14, 07:42 AM   #8
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Using attic heat for your dryer has already been done by at last one person:

Converting a Clothes Dryer to Use Solar Heated Attic Air For Drying

IMO dust isn't even an issue. I have had my attic fans going for a few years now and I have cellulose insulation. My outlet vent in the kitchen has virtually no dust build up on it. The fans in the attic are just as clean as my fans I use year round in the house.
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Old 04-28-14, 07:56 AM   #9
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Thats a good link . Ill check into that. I just put in the insulation a couple months ago . When i shine my laser up there you can see the line its so dusty . Maybe still seddling ? I wouldnt think
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Old 04-28-14, 02:35 PM   #10
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I read that article in the link you posted, Daox. Good article. It sounds like it's possible to air seal a dryer after a fashion but not perfectly and since it's not insulated the dryer still radiates heat. He also found that the dryer blower wasn't sufficient alone with a 6 inch duct from the attic. That was good to know.

I think I'll try to stick with the idea of isolating the room, rather than the dryer. I had been planning on pumping in cellulose in the walls of the laundry room just to quiet it down. Now there's another reason to do it. It looks like I'll be modifying my system (yet again ) with a 12" branch duct from the main duct from the attic to the laundry room ceiling. I'll have to do some thinking whether I can get away with a makeup air damper in that line or whether I will have to use an actively controlled damper to stop interaction with the makeup air dampers for the whole house fans?? I might be able to get away with a makeup air damper if I can get a tight fit on the door to the laundry room.

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