mortimersnerd

So my parents go the eclectic bill from last month....and this folding is costing quite a bit. They said that if I found a way to use the heat from the computer for good they would support that. Both are engineers and suggested that If I can find a way to heat water before it goes to the water heater it would save a lot of money since heating water is expensive and every degree helps. If anyone has some ideas, I would appreciate it.

This is what I was thinking so far.
I take the computer and have the incoming cold line run thought the CPU block (that I would have to buy). The water would then go to a secondary tank that is insulated before it goes to the water heater (so there is more volume during the morning when people take showers....) The size of the secondary tank would be determined by the flow rate. I would have to design a overflow system to drain it if the family doesnt use enough hot water.

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dM@n

You should watercool the mobo and GPU also for more heat

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mortimersnerd

I might have to..... Basically Im trying to make up the $15/month lost from electricity for running the computer by heating the water. Since the specific heat of water is so high (4.184 J/gK) heating it up by only a degree or two will show a noticeable savings in energy

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dM@n

You said that the house's cold line is gonna run through the computer, right? Tap water might corrode the water blocks.

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iandh

As long as your holding tank had enough thermal capacity, this would work flawlessly. Your best bet would be to call a plumbing place and see if you could land a fried water heater for free or cheap. Already insulated, plenty of holding capacity. You would need to use two pumps, one to circulate the water from your loop through a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger, one to circulate the holding tank water through it as well, unless of course you want to try and plumb your PC cooling for 60psi residential pressure.

If you buy a temperature switch from mcmaster.com it can be adjusted to open a solenoid bypass valve that goes to drain once the water temp reaches 80F (or whatever you tune to your water usage rate and desired load temp).

An alternative that doesn't waste water is to have a rad that kicks on only when the water temp rises beyond a certain point, that way you don't need a drain valve.

mortimersnerd

Cool. THanks for the suggest and the confidence. Thats a good idea to get a old water heater. My dad works for Whirlpool so Im sure he could get an old one. The thermal meter is a good idea. That would save some money if I can heat the water from 40F to maybe 70F (to keep the computer cool too).

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mortimersnerd

Hmmm. Not a bad idea. Anyone have an idea of how long it takes to heat 40gal of water with a quad @ 3.6? (probably 150W)?

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dM@n

I also recommend you to try Peltier cooling. Heats up the water even more!

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mortimersnerd

But it also draws more electricity but hey, when Im done, I might not need a water heater at all

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mortimersnerd

I was looking in the basement and I found a 150W pump that my dad had as a prototype that went to production. There was no label on it but I know it moves quite a bit of water... I will think about this and hopefully draw up some plans and post them.

Any other comments?

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"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance"
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Folding. It is important no matter how much YOU contribute!
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