High performance builders are a rare breed in this era of cheap energy and sharing information on new techniques is most sought after. So it was last week, that Graham Fisher and I, payed a visit to a sage of Passive Building – Ed Marion. In high performance houses, the balance of heat, humidity and noise needs to be carefully considered and on this build in particular, Ed brought us in on a secret.
We found Ed contemplating the mechanical symbiosis in the laundry room of his latest build. Ed’s teaching was on assembling systems that benefit from each other and the machines in question were the laundry machine, the refrigerator and the hot water tank. I should elaborate that all 3 units were heat pumps – or machines that use electricity to move heat from one place to another. The washer dryer combo was a condensing unit (ie no exhaust dryer vent pipe), the fridge is like every other and the hot water heater was an air source heat pump.
Fridge + Dryer = Hot Water
Enclosed in one basement room, the dryer and refrigerator produce waste heat and possibly the clothes dryer/washer produce a bit of unintended humidity too. The waste heat is in the air of the laundry room and thankfully, the new GE air source heat pump water heater will extract the excess heat in the room’s air and as a side benefit condense any basement humidity while at it. Its perfect ecology where cooling beer produces hot showers. What’s not to like?
When we were leaving I saw Ed moving the yoga mats and exercise machine into the room… not that’s what we call earning a shower!
The fridge freezer produces excess heat in the room.
This condensing dryer produces waste heat when in use and may produce a bit of humidity too.
This air source heat pump has setting that range from full air source heat pump to combo to electric back up. This water heater will collect the wasted heat from the other appliances in the room. Note the heat trap and yes, the pipes will be insulated…