I've been taking "stirring" lessons here. :)
Anyway it appears to be paying off... I added photos of fluidyne engine work from folks aound the world to my web site and, because a few of the folks here have shown some interest, I thought I'd post a "heads-up".
The second engine by Simon Popy (France) even incorporates a bit of woodworking. :)
Morris Dovey wrote in news:49d8ebeb$0$89389$ snipped-for-privacy@news.qwest.net:
I have been wondering whether there would be a way to recover any heat from the exhaust/flue from my heating system and distribute it throughout my basement. Here in Jersey, my basement does not ever get really cold, but it does get cool in winter. Just when the furnace works hardest, the basement is coldest. Would a fluidyne engine be able to take heat from the flue, power a fan to blow the air over the flue pipe, and use the cold around the floor and behind the cupboard against the wall for a cold spot for the engine?
I would like to see someone come up with an effective/efficient heat transfer unit for capturing what the clothes dryer pumps outside.
Seems to me, any technique used to remove all the moisture from the air would nullify any energy savings, no?
Unless you have an old and really inefficient heating system, there probably is not any safe and practical way. If you can remove enough heat from the flue gasses to power a fluidyne, then you really do need a heating system upgrade.
And if you did remove enough heat to power the fluidyne, then the cooled gasses probably wouldn't go up the flue. :(
Those heat exchangers are on the market - but I think the payback period might be between "long" and "never".
The heat exchanger extracts the heat from the dryer exhaust and transfers it to the incoming replacement air. The damp (cooled) air is vented outside. I'm not sure what the efficiencies are, but I believe that the (already in use) dryer blower does all the work.
So it must do it without the air actually mixing? Or do the physics of it all dictate that the moisture will stay with the cool air?
You were right on the first guess. I'd be willing to bet that you could build your own without too much dificulty.
I DAGS on dryer+"heat exchanger" and got 387,000 hits. :)
Morris Dovey wrote in news:49d90c15$0$89868$ snipped-for-privacy@news.qwest.net:
OK, not enough heat to worry about then. We had the furnace replaced about 8 years ago with a new natural gas unit heating hot water baseboard. The house is much more livable and has a more constant temperature than with the old noisy steam unit that needed all that attention.
Umm - yes. What, in particular, do you have in mind?
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