Hello Everyone...

[Durgen]

Good Morning,
I have just started researching alternative energy sources. I own a couple of laundromats and have watched the cost of doing business increases while the income of my customers has either disappeared or gone down. I believe the writing on the wall is clearly telling me that I need to do for my own business instead of relying on government grants or "greed" oriented technology.

That said, I hope to have the first laundromats run with alternative energy and recycled water (I used 360,000 gallons every three months or 4000 gallons per day on average).

It appears the easiest place to start is with the fuelless heater systems for hot water and for heating the stores. My hot water heaters start up a circulation pump to get the water flowing and then turn on the burners. It would seen that a hot water heater would do the opposite...start the rotation for a minute or two and then start the movement of water until the hot water storage reaches the 115 Degrees that I use. It appears there are many existing components that just have to be re-organized.

If anyone knows where I could even purchase and existing system from a manufacturer, I would be interested in looking into it.

I have read through a few of the threads and am looking forward to learning more.

thanks,
Jim

[Dave45]

there is a guy that heats water by spinning it in one direction this causes lenz that heats the water.
I cant remember the link but look for cavitation on utube

[HairBear]

Interesting! I would like to know more about how a laundromat system works. Are they located in dense urban areas? Are there any restrictions you have to consider when choosing an alternative energy source? And I guess, the bigger question would be... If the customer base is spending less, how would alternative energy, if at all, benefit both you and the customer?

[Aaron]

heat pump hot water heater

Heat pump hot water heaters -

can buy them NOW - no research and development needed.

They use about 60% less power than conventional heating element water heaters - just search in google. And depending on how much sun you get, you can add a solar hot water heater system to preheat the water so that even the heat pump doesn't have to kick on that much. Between both of those, you'll slash your hot water heating bill substantially.

[HairBear]

What a coincidence, The guy I work for just had one installed in his shower house. I haven't had a chance to have a good look at it yet and it's only been in for a couple of weeks. He said it was an ambient air type deal. It seams these are relatively new on the market. What's the big deal with these heaters? How do they work?

[Durgen]

Hydrosonic Pump

Cavitation

I found this link today, called and left a message for next week. I think this is the fellow who has the You Tube story with the fire hall heating with a cavitation system.
James L. Griggs: Hydrosonic Pump // ShockWave Power // Hydrodynamics, Inc.

I would like to move to steam for heating the dryers with heat transfer radiators. There are steam dryers but I could just convert the dryers and keep the gas burners as backup. The cavitation pump is supposed to produce plenty of steam also.

I didn't think about the heat pump. Have to take a look at it. I would like to move to steam for heating the dryers with heat transfer radiators. There are steam dryers but I could just convert the dryers and keep the gas burners as backup. The cavitation pump is supposed to produce plenty of steam also.

so much to read...thanks all.

[mire]

water storage tanks.

You would need space for storage units to recycle the water. Your own water treatment plant perhaps. That would be cool...

also you could buy storage tanks used. 30 thousand gallon tanks perhaps?

Heat the water to a degree with sunlight, and fennel lenses as an idea to save.
the cost to heat warm water as opposed to cold water will save a bundle.

just to give you sum ideas to research. .

cheers

[Aaron]

heat pump hot water heater

What a coincidence, The guy I work for just had one installed in his shower house. I haven't had a chance to have a good look at it yet and it's only been in for a couple of weeks. He said it was an ambient air type deal. It seams these are relatively new on the market. What's the big deal with these heaters? How do they work?

Over the last several years, you could only get retrofit units from companies like Airtap. You remove the stock setup and mount the heat pump unit on top of your regular water tank, plug it in the wall and it pulls heat from the air and puts it in the water and then vents cold out air the other side. Pretty much like any heatpump like a AC unit or refrigerator. For 600 watts, it can make as much hot water as a few thousand watt resistive heating element unit.

Only relatively recently have companies been making the hot water tanks with the heat pump integrated - they range from about $1200-$3000 depending on capacity. Airtap has the most efficient one with an energy factor of about 2.4 - I don't know exactly what that is in COP but the COP is of course over 1.0. These integrated units use about 60% on average less electricity to make the same hot water as a typical heater element hot water heater.

You can still buy the retrofits from Airtap for probably under $700 but I'd rather buy the integrated units - the payback would be pretty quick - especially in a business that uses a lot of hot water.

I want to build a stabilized earth brick home with 2-3 heat pump hot water heaters as storage tanks being assisted by a solar water heater to preheat the water and then install radiant floor heating. All heating and hot water bills will be next to nothing. And I'd like to design the location so that it is behind the kitchen so the fridge vented heat vents into the water heater area and the cold air from the heat pumps on the water heaters will be vented into a modified fridge. The higher the temp where the heat pumps are to make hot water, the more efficient they are since there is simply a higher potential difference to work with.

Here is an example of one of the better ones: http://www.airgenerate.com/

How they work: Energy Savers: Heat Pump Water Heaters

You can compare efficiency ratings here: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?...y_products_pdf

Quite a few are hybrids that still have heating elements in addition to the heat pump setup.

The insulation on most takes are not very good so I'd wrap at least 3 layers of thick PRODEX around it - like radiant foil covered bubble wrap but it is like a bubbled plastic inside better than bubble wrap. With about 3 layers of the good PRODEX - you will hold on to the heat in the water tank.

Rheem owns Marathon - Marathon made the best already insulated hot water tanks with blown foam pretty thick wrapped in fiberglass - Rheem now makes heat pump hot water heaters as well but I don't know if they're using the super insulated tanks like the Marathon ones though.

[Aaron]

heat pump dryers

I would like to move to steam for heating the dryers with heat transfer radiators. There are steam dryers but I could just convert the dryers and keep the gas burners as backup.

There are also heat pump dryers - only recently did they start to get more recognition:

Heat Pump Clothes Dryers as a 2012 Category for ENERGY STAR Emerging Technology Awards

They use 30-50% less electricity than a conventional dryer. That is a big deal.