A shower wastewater heat recovery system that pipes warm greywater through a flat plate heat exchanger on which you lay a towel... Ok, so you have to go downstairs to get the towel... big deal... come on suck it up people!
-- brattleboro, Apr 08 2006

Maybe it could pipe throgh the floor too, so that my feet wouldn't get cold when I step out. [+]
-- daseva, Apr 08 2006


This would work if the shower were also an elevator....
-- Rm Brz, Apr 08 2006


why not.
-- po, Apr 08 2006


After much thought I realized it would be hard to retrofit the system in existing bathrooms due to the fact the warming plate has to be lower than the bottom of the tub. Well in that case it could be installed at the showerhead.
-- brattleboro, Apr 09 2006


Good idea. I like the idea of capturing the waste heat. How about this - in the shower is a flat metal towel-shaped box. You put your dry towel in there and shut the box. It is watertight. During the shower water runs over you and the box. At the end of the shower open the box and walla: warm towel! And you don't even have to leave the shower!
-- bungston, Apr 09 2006


Use a Drain Line heat exchanger as a part of a short glycol loop that connects to the plate heat exchanger. The glycol heats up transfers heat to plate(and towel) and then returns to the heat exchanger to warm up again. A very small electric pump is all that is needed. and the warmer can be anywhere that you want it to be.
-- jhomrighaus, Apr 10 2006


Really, the best way to recapture this heat would be to have the shower drain line wrap around the incoming water line to the water heater. The incoming water would be preheated by the waste.
-- bungston, Apr 10 2006


When I was a kid, we had the water heater at the back of the linen closet, which made the towels warm and toasty. Later, in Cambridge, the bathroom in our flat had a radiator in the shape of a towel rack, again very useful (except when you leant your leg against it by mistake).

Anyway, that suggests to me that the hot water pipe should be routed to the shower head by wayof the towel rack.
-- DrCurry, Apr 10 2006



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