Filed under: Gadgets and Tech, Home

How can a drain make your water heater more efficient? Well, it's actually pretty simple. The Eco Drain recaptures your refreshing morning shower's excess hot water and uses it to reduce the load on your water heater. With no moving parts and a supposedly clog-proof coating, the hot water from your drain is channeled into a mixing valve which transfers heat from your sudsy waste water to incoming municipal water.

If you're like me, you're probably wondering about exactly how the heat is exchanged between the two water sources. Apparently, the design maximizes the surface area of the two channels, allowing heat transfer as the water runs through the Eco Drain. According to Eco Drain, the waste water and fresh water are separated by a "double wall," so there's virtually no chance for them to mix. By their estimations, this completely sanitary heating method could cut your water heater use by up to 40%. Nice.

Now, to tackle the dilemma of whether or not to turn your water heater down below 140°F.

[via Inhabitat]

The Eco Drain Makes Your Water Heat 40% More Efficient originally appeared on Green Daily on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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