Do you have wetbacks in the US?

[Dead_Parrot]

OK, I can hear 238 people hitting the "alert" button as I type, so I'd better explain:

Nothing to do with the Rio Grande.

A "wetback" is an NZ term - there's no UK equivalent - for a heat exchanger built into the chimney of a fireplace, so the exhaust from your solid fuel furnace/stove heats water on the way out. It may be plumbed into a radiator heating system, or for hot water, depending on plumbing. It just struck be I've never heard of the system referred to in a US context, so does anyone use it?

(The back of your chimney is wet, in case you were wondering. :))

[Gman]

1. You forgot to add at the end

"Gotcha!"

[Canuckistanian]

2. Never heard about it in Canada

I have heard about heat exchangers that take waste heat from drain water (showers, washing machines, dishwashers, etc.) and use it to pre-heat outside water sources going into hot water heaters.

That's a neat idea, though. is it common in NZ?

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Seems to be...

I'm finally getting around to buying a house here, and a lot of them have wetbacks. Made my eyes bulge until I worked it out, but it's quite a nice system....

[Canuckistanian]

11. I'm obsessed with ideas about energy reclamation

We waste SO MUCH energy. Energy that goes down the drain, up the chimney, out the exaust pipe, through the cracks...

If only everyone thought like I do, we wouldn't have an energy crisis OR a global warming problem.

[Dead_Parrot]

14. Or a vegetable in the white house...

:evilgrin:

Sadly, they don't... :(

[Canuckistanian]

15. LOL! n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. The integrated condensing gas fireplace.

Water is heated in the fireplace, then travels to the water heater and the HVAC unit, where tap water and air are heated through heat exchangers. The fireplace does not have to be in use for these heat exchangers to function.


http://homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/99/990106.html

[Dead_Parrot]

6. No wonder I've never heard of it...

"integrated condensing gas fireplace"? Hardly trips off the tongue... :D

It sounds a bit more involved, but the principle's the same... Thanks...

[MuseRider]

4. I have heard of it but not in those terms.

I don't know anyone who has one. We are putting in Geo Thermal but I would be very interested in doing something like this as well.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. You're putting in Geothermal?

Options:
a)You mean a "Ground Source Heat Pump" or "Geoexchange system"
b)Can I borrow a million dollars?
:D

It seems to be simple, effective and maintenance-free, so if you can cobble one together it would be well worth going for.

[MuseRider]

10. Not a million but pretty damned pricey!

We are doing it for two reasons, 1. because it is the right thing to do 2. because we will be able to get partly off the grid once we can afford to add solar panels

We are building on my farm and the house will be up close to a 4 acre pond so we are using the pond rather than sinking into the ground. To tell you the truth I don't know the difference between and exchange or a heat pump but I am thinking it is exchange for some reason. There is a fluid that flows through the hoses that are dropped into the pond and they circulate so that we have to use the heater less and the air conditioner less. I will be able to tell you more about it once we get closer to doing it, a couple of months I would guess. I could have told you 3 months ago when we were talking about it. I am building a house confused/preoccupied at the moment. We figured it out that it will pay for itself at todays costs in a little over 5 years, 10 at the most so we decided to spring for it. It is the right thing to do and they work well in this area.

[Dead_Parrot]

13. Yeah, that's a geoexchange system

There might be a way of building a "wetback" directly into the same piping, but you'd need to ask someone a bit more savvy than myself... but let us know hoe you get on!

[MuseRider]

18. I will.

I am going to ask about something like the "wetback" since it sounds like one more thing to help us live more independently and responsibly. I am glad you mentioned it. This is the perfect time for me since we are making up our last lists before we dig.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. I've heard about this, it makes sense...

when it's freezing above ground, the water in the pond is warmer, and you get a warmth boost. In summer, it's cold, so it cools the air. beautiful in its simplicity. :) I wouldn't think there would be any issue hooking the fireplace up too, I'd think it would work better in the winter than the pond set up.

[MuseRider]

17. This is the perfect

time to ask about it since we have not started yet. Thanks. We will be putting in a wood burning stove or an alternate like pellet and this would be very nice. My only problem with the geothermal system is that if you don't use it all the time you have no hot water and I refuse to use the airconditioner unless I am sweating while sitting, even then I just hate it. So we still have a few bugs to work out and I will add this to the list of things to look into.

[donco6]

7. I've never seen one.

We're just getting around to on-demand, tankless water heaters. We're a little behind.

[MercutioATC]

9. My parents have had one for years...a little different, though.

My parents have a woodburning stove in their basement. The flue from the stove (blower-fed out of the back of the stove) runs through the center of a tank of water (an old water heater tank with a 10" diameter flue pipe welded through it). This tank is fed cold water from the water line and has an outlet at the top that feeds water heated by the exhaust from the woodburner into their water heater (the old tank with the flue welded through it preheats the water that's fed into the actual water heater).

As I recall, it works pretty well.

[crizzo5137]

12. We bought my great uncles house a few years ago

He was a builder so this house is pretty much a 'brick shit house'.. One of the neatest things we found out is that he snaked the radiator pipes in the bricks behind the fireplace...Its a cool fireplace thats built to burn coal in the living room. Hard to explain, you would have to see it.. Its kinda 'rustic'.. I always figured that he was just playing around since he built houses, but 'wetback' makes sense... I guess I thought he just overbuilt the house

[jpak]

19. Yes

Many older (antique) wood cookstoves had hot water coils. They were plumbed into large copper tank (equipped with a faucet) that stood beside the stove.

You can get hot water coil inserts for modern wood stoves but they aren't commonly used here in the states.

on edit: my parents (and brother) have a wood-fired furnace (with oil back-up) that is plumbed into their heat and hot water systems.

In the winter, all their hot water is wood-fired...