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Instant hot water - Water Ring Main |
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Instant hot water – A must for architects and new home owners
Have you ever wondered why the bathroom in any fancy hotel has a certain appeal
that you just don’t seem to get when you are at home? It’s that comfortable luxury
feeling that you know you can expect when you book a night at the hotel.
We’ll that luxury feeling is obtainable but there are a few tricks that the hotels employ
that you probably don’t even know about. The one secret tip is the warm
comfortable atmosphere, which is obtained through central heating. Central
heat is expensive to have running all day but now with alternative energy, the central
heating can cost a fraction of the conventional heating bill. (Central heating will be
covered in next month’s article). The other secret tip is instant hot water. A person will not realise this and take this for granted
when staying at the hotel. Whenever you crank your hot water tap you have instant steamy hot water like in the fancyhotel.
How does this work?
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Read more... [Instant hot water - Water Ring Main]
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What does it cost to run a heat pump?
Introduction
Alternative energy is a relatively new and fascinating field in South Africa, when comparing to Europe and first world countries. It is common experience with any new technology, for instance with solar and heat pumps, that it is difficult to make a solid financial decision when investing in such technologies. To give an example, Carte Blanche, (South African television program) had a program, this year of 2010, comparing solar and heat pumps and tried to make an educated conclusion on which would be the better technology and a better investment purely from a cost point of view. Regardless of the outcome of the program and which hailed the superior technology, there is another point that must be stressed.
Why is it, that five years later, after the introduction of solar and heat pumps into this country, there are programs, like Carte Blanche, still raising questions about the efficiency and payback of these technologies? This observation must mean that customers are purchasing alternative technologies based only on the fact that, “Alternative technology will save energy”, and that, “it’s good for the environment”.
The specific questions that should be raised are; “How much energy will it save? How much will it save for a family of two, three or four? How much will it save if I have water saving shower heads installed? These are some realistic questions posed by homeowners but without quoting statistics and random percentages, what exactly, “IN RANDS AND CENTS” will I save every month if I make the investment?
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Read more... [Heat pump running cost]
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Leading Solar Technologies |
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 As you can imagine, South Africa is not a leader in these technologies. Renewable energies became topical when the Eskom lights went out a few years ago. However, there are a few Australian, American and especially European companies who lead in this field. In Germany, solar systems gained popularity in the 1960’s. They also soon realised that because they have rain, snow and severe winters to contend with, they cannot rely on this technology alone. To back their solar systems up with electric elements was definitely not the answer. They then went far deeper into the renewable field and perfected additional technologies such as heat pumps to back up their solar systems. Further on in this article, heat pumps will be described. This combination of solar and heat pumps has been the answer for all Nordic Countries for at least 40 years. Whereas the solar system extracts heat from the sun rays directly, heat pumps extract their heat from the surrounding air that the sun has heated. That is where the term “solar heat pumps”, originates.
Having read the above, you might think that Germany’s conditions don’t apply to South Africa. Strangely however, the North of Germany, (Hamburg and above) has the same amount of sunshine per year as the figures given by the CSIR for the Southern Cape.
Now we come to the most interesting part of solar, see; "Overcapitilising your hot water system" |
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How does a heat pump work? |
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The principle is very similar to the operation of a refrigerator, but only in reverse.The heat pump system contains a fan that forces air through an evaporator (1). The evaporator contains very cold liquid refrigerant. The heat in the air that passes through this evaporator is absorbed by the refrigerant. The now warm gaseous refrigerant is then circulated in the system via a compressor(2). As it goes through the compressor its pressure rises and the temperature increases further. From here it travels to the condenser(3), where the heat from what is now a super hot refrigerant is transferred to the water supply tank.The cooled down refrigerant then goes through an expansion valve(4), which reduces its pressure cooling it further and the cycle starts again. |
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