- Messages
- 3,317
Sorry Ric,
I didn't see your post, we posted at the same time.
You could use the heat source to heat a cylinder indirectly.
As long as the supply to the compost heap is protected adequately from contaminating the potable water supply.
As you state - like solar hot water.
The problems that arise from this is controlling the system.
You don't want a heat sink that will take heat away from the cylinder, so pumps, sensors, timers and so on - could get obscenely expensive.
Solution: Use the compost heat to heat the cold water entering the tank through a plate heat exchanger. The compost heated water will most probably always be hotter that the cold incoming supply. No controls, no sensors, maybe a timer for the pump to save on electricity when you won't be using hot water.
I didn't see your post, we posted at the same time.
You could use the heat source to heat a cylinder indirectly.
As long as the supply to the compost heap is protected adequately from contaminating the potable water supply.
As you state - like solar hot water.
The problems that arise from this is controlling the system.
You don't want a heat sink that will take heat away from the cylinder, so pumps, sensors, timers and so on - could get obscenely expensive.
Solution: Use the compost heat to heat the cold water entering the tank through a plate heat exchanger. The compost heated water will most probably always be hotter that the cold incoming supply. No controls, no sensors, maybe a timer for the pump to save on electricity when you won't be using hot water.
Last edited: