Just remember to get out in time…
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Regardless of whether that’s an effective way to heat your home it’s a sign of love, isn’t it?
after I take a bath if its still warm I’ll leave the water in there for you
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I solve this issue by only showering in the fresh broth from my boiled beef dinners. The neighborhood dogs love me.
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I have a DEhumidifier in my home. It works better than a tumble-drier in terms of energy-conservation, during times when it’s too wet to dry clothes on a line outside.
My skin crawls at the thought of leaving the bath-plug in while I take my shower, and I think that’s going to make it harder to keep my feet clean. Leaving the bathwater in sounds like it would work, the more so since my wife tends to take a bath late at night, so it would keep the bedrooms slightly warmer than they are currently.
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Yeah, sorta. It just spreads the grease further down the line, smoothing out the buildup, and making it harder to reach with a snake.
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Hah! I read “boiled beet dinners”! That would be a sight!
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My house builders put this in. apparently it’s new code or some BS. Cold water (from the street) goes into the bottom of the copper coil, comes out the top then continues to feed taps and the hot water tank.
Idea being hot waste water flows down the 4" black pipe, and the fresh water in the copper coil draws out the heat, slightly warming up the fresh ‘cold’ water so that … possibly… less energy is needed at the hot water tank, or you need to mix less hot water with cold to have a pleasant hand-washing temperature.
Problem is this coil thing only catches draining water from the main floor bathroom. Not the kitchen or laundry - those go down separate drains elsewhere. Main floor bathroom (shower/sink/toilet) is hardly used… the basement has the primary suite w/tub/sink/toilet/shower. this coil system sees maybe 25% of any water discharged.
I would have rather seen some type of solar coil for pre-heating - I bet overall you would see much better results. Instead, all I hear is a constant ticking sound behind my bedroom wall from thermal expansion
Complete waste of money, I’m sure I paid way more for this farce than I’ll every see from energy savings.
Next year… not telling the City (code BS)… I’m switching my toilets to flush with stored sump pump water . save big on fresh water and sewer charges.
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Paybacks range from 2.5 to 7 years, depending on how often the system is used, and the temperature of the incoming water, which is dependent on ground temperatures.
Sounds like your builders did it wrong, as much or perhaps more than it being a slow payback kind of improvement.
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Yeah, but wouldn’t it need to sit a while to transfer any meaningful amount of heat?
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The article linked mentions condensing heaters. Asking the Brits, are most of those also instant heaters or simply standing boilers? The author also never mentions “Navy showers”.
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It’s a form of cross-flow heat exchanger and they can be pretty efficient in transferring heat from one fluid to another when they’re designed right. They’re made from copper which conducts heat well, but that’s also why they can be somewhat expensive. The longer it is the better it works.
Here’s one that’s rated at 72% efficiency:
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Re: the thermodynamics, as @SamSam says, the enthalpy of vaporisation will be exactly offset by the water condensing elsewhere; that process actually makes for better heat transport (although if you live in a sub-£300k home in Britain, it may just be improving the heat transport to your badly insulated windows).
Anyway. I think most British people are aware of this idea already. Like “washing” dishes without the use of running water, or margarine, it’s the kind of performative frugality that BBC News viewers use to convince themselves that they lived through the war and could get by on £10 a week if they wanted to, which allows them to vote for Tories without any sense that there’s anything to feel bad about.
I mean, I’ve literally had this conversation about bathwater with a British person worth 9 figures. This is someone who had to sleep in a below-freezing room as a child because his parents paid to send him to boarding school. The People’s Temple has nothing on this demented island.
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I was just looking at this earlier today. No numbers given but it certainly looks efficient.
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seems like it would be more trouble than it’s worth to pump all that sea water up to your house 
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Nice, i like it. There must be loads of examples but i feel that Scarfolk and the Laundry series really taps into what a fucked up little TER island this place is.
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This is such a British absurdity.
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In 2014 (most recent I could easily find) there were 52% combi boilers (instant), hot water tanks were down to 38%.
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It builds character.
Granted, usually not very good ones, statistically speaking - but outsourcing being mean to your kids will free up so much time for the important things in life.
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Hot water tanks are on their way up again. I moved into a new build estate house a year ago. Every dwelling in the place (90+) runs a condensing boiler from non-mains Propane for central heating and the hot water tank.
It’s a huge pain in the arse, frankly.
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