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Municipal water is cooled variously to 60-70degF for transportation to consumers.
The Sinktop Air-Conditioner comprises a large radiator that plugs into the cold-water tap. A fan blows room air through the radiator, cooling it to the point where the effluent water is at ambient. The water then
flows into an outdoor tank used for watering the garden or lawn, which will be happier with non-cold water.
Flow control is via two opposing bi-metal strips and the fan is powered by the water pressure, supplemented by wallpower as the temperature difference (and thus the water pressure) gets smaller.
the Total Cheapass variety is a car radiator with its electric fan attached.
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Annotation:
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There's a shower exhaust fan available from the Rainbow Power Company in Australia which is powered by the running water in the pipes. |
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This should work. Unfortunately here in Oz we're experiencing extreme water shortages and restrictions, which means watering gardens with tap water is banned in a lot of places. |
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Ditch the tank, and water the garden directly.
Gardens should be kept a little on the thirsty side,
so that opportunistic water such as rain or this
idea is not wasted. In other words, the garden is
the tank. The cost of a small tank, and the land it
occupies, can easily exceed the value of the water
it saves over its lifetime. |
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I once worked out the average power coming into
my house as water pressure; pressure in pascals
times flow in cubic metres per second gives power
in watts. It worked out at about 1/1000 of my
average electrical power consumption. So there is
a little power to be harvested from mains water,
but the main reason for powering the fan by water
pressure IMO is simplicity, rather than energy
conservation. So ditch the mains backup too.
You'll never get the water to ambient
temperature anyway, so just let the air flow and
the water flow remain in proportion. |
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In less humid climates, a bong cooler (where the
air and the water are in direct contact) would be a
good option. It's cheap (less metal), it's efficient,
and you get some evaporative cooling too. |
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