You may find this month's letter a bit technical & maybe
even at times a little difficult to follow. I know I found it
difficult to write, but try to read all of it because the benefits
of applying some or all of the suggestions could save thousands
of dollars on your electrical account over the years.
There are some amazing people out there who come up with all
sorts of ideas that add value and comfort to our homes and lives
because of their imagination. This month I'd like to reintroduce
one such person whose passion for his field of expertise is infectious.
Last year you may remember I wrote a article about a product that
revolutionised the new home building industry for those who installed
wood fires. Often they were restricted in where to site them because
they thought the only way they could benefit from installing a
wet back to heat the hot water was to have the hot water cylinder
in a cupboard directly behind the wood fire.
Well, thanks to Bill Wilson and his incredible "Pulse Flow"
pump, wood fires no longer have to rely on the hot water cylinder
being near the fire place. In fact they can be up to 20m away
from the cylinder and still work beautifully. The fact is, the
pulse flow pump is not just restricted to wood fires, it can be
used in any application where you want to move hot water from
one location to another, eg; from a roof solar panel to the hot
water cylinder in the basement or from a hot water cylinder to
feed radiators as a means of internal domestic heating. But the
real secret & benefit behind this technology is that the "Pulse
Flow" pump does not require electricity. As soon as hot water
passes through, it starts a one way pulse or pumping action. So
in other words, the wood fire can be at one end of the house and
the hot water cylinder can be in the middle of the house (say
inside the linen cupboard) as it is in the showhome, and still
effectively heat the water.
So what is the background of Bill Wilson. Well, Bill has lived
in Masterton most of his life. Although ever since I've known
him (3 years now), he's worked out of his workshop at the back
of his house, developing easy to install, affordable energy saving
systems that all new and existing homes can benefit from. In the
past he has worked for companies all over the world, including
Germany, UK and in Seattle the USA, in the fields of electro magnetic
engineering and heat exchanges. It's this knowledge he's been
able to apply to energy saving consumer products. Bill was also
involved in the design of the first solar powered car to travel
across Australia a year or so ago.
What Bill is doing now is adding many new dimensions to the pulse
flow technology. Ok, I've explained briefly how the "Pulse
Flow Pump", which is attached to the wet back inside a fire
box, pumps hot water back to the hot water cylinder regardless
of where it is in relation to the wood fire (within 20m). But
he has now developed a solar panel to work on the same principle.
When his new solar system is combined with the "Pulse Flow"
pump, the hot water cylinder can be sited in its usual position
in the linen cupboard where it could be connected to the wood
fire wet-back as well. All other solar panel systems require either
the hot water cylinder on the roof (which looks terrible), located
horizontally among the rafters or by installing an electric pump
to bring the hot water back to the hot water cylinder.
As I mentioned earlier, Bill is working on and developing heat
exchangers. So what is a heat exchanger and how can we use them
to benefit us? A heat exchanger (in this application) is designed
to have one liquid which is already hot, heat another liquid.
So what, I hear you say. Well, the main problem we have with most
present solar systems is that they are unreliable and they are
subject to corrosion and frost damage. Coupled with the fact that
the amount of hot water generated by some of these systems makes
installing solar panels marginal as far as being cost effective.
And to date in general, solar panels have been labelled as not
much more than a gimmick.
As I mentioned, technology has changed and continues to change
the face of solar as a source of energy, and we need to take it
very seriously. Mainly because many councils are now either requiring
unbelievably strict controls on smoke emissions from wood fire
or banning them all together. Pollution from wood burners is a
real problem. So how does the heat exchanger come in to all of
this. With the problems of the conventional solar system heating
the water inside the solar panel, corrosion, rust and frost is
a problem too. The technology is that we no longer use drinkable
water inside the solar panel system. Instead, the liquid has anti-freeze
and other chemicals to stop corrosion, rust and frost. The hot
water circulates back to the hot water cylinder in a separate
piping system where we have the heat exchanger, either along side
the hot water cylinder or in some cases inside the hot water cylinder.
In other words, it's the heat in the liquid from the solar panel
that heats household water as it passes along side each other
in the heat exchanger. The hot water from the wood fire wet back
can also be incorporated in the one heating system, passing through
the heat exchanger and kept quite separate from the house hold
drinking and washing water. And as I say, the whole system runs
without electrical support.
The panels for this new solar system are also revolutionary.
New technology is extracting more and more heat from solar panels.
In a three year test just completed, Bill's solar panels generated
an average water temperature of between 68-70°C under usual
household operating conditions. Understand that this is world
leading technology and unique to NZ. Scientists and experts in
the field of solar energy and heat transfer are coming to Masterton
from around the world to learn about how he does it.
Bill expects that a fully installed system including the heat
exchanger will cost less than $3,000. and systems should be available
on the market by October 1997. They can also be installed into
an existing house water system. As I say, it's Bill's main goal
to make energy efficient systems affordable to all of us. Ring
me if you want to learn more because I may be able to explain
it over the phone easier than I wrote it.
Next month I've got exciting news that will get you into even
more hot water ie: finally, there is a system that no longer requires
low pressure water for the wet back (about time). In other words,
you can still save money by having a wet back or solar system.
But instead of just getting a dribble out of the shower rose,
you'll be blasted to the back of the shower cubicle, fantastic.
Also (not sure whether I can tell you much about this because
it's still very much hush hush) Bill is in the final stages of
developing a system for heating hot water incredibly cheaply by
using a gas booster fitted to your existing electric HWC &
supplied by a 9kg gas bottle located outside, somewhere hidden.
By using, his amazing "Pulse Flow" technology, heating
existing or new hot water cylinders is being achieved far cheaper
than electricity.
The company that manufactures the valve is Reid Technologies.
They can be contacted on: telephone: (09) 489 8100 ,Fax: (09)
448 1631, http://www.reidtechnology.co.nz/logfire.htm
Oh PS: More and more inquires and sales are from beyond the toll
free area of our office. Because of this, for your convenience I
have installed an 0800 Free-Help phone line to our office. So if
you have any questions or queries you can contact me on:
