Energy Economics
Question: I hate to lose the heat vented from my dryer. Can I use it indoors?Answer: Excess moisture will result if you vent your dryer inside, and that can cause problems. Your plants would love the warm moist air, though. Vent your dryer into a sunroom or greenhouse and you won't regret losing the heat. Cover the outlet with a nylon stocking to catch the lint, and clean the filter frequently. In the summer, of course, you'll want to direct the heat outdoors.
Question: Can I use the water in an indoor pool to store solar heat?
Answer: The notion of a swimming pool that also serves as a heat storage tank for a solar-energy heating system is attractive and might appear practical. But swimming and heat storage are incompatible. Heat-storage tanks must protect their contents from heat loss and evaporation to be effective. Pools lose large amounts of heat and water vapour from their exposed surfaces.
Even if you did design a pool/heat storage tank, your daily dip could mean serious burns. Solar collectors can generate temperatures as high as 66°C, and water must be at least that hot to effectively radiate warmth from a radiator.
And there's another health hazard. Chlorine would be needed to reduce the bacterial level of the water. Higher water temperatures accelerate the release of chlorine gas into the atmosphere from chlorinated water. Chlorine irritates the eyes and respiratory tract, can cause headaches, coughing, dizziness and loss of voice.
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May 22, 2012