Save Energy With Copper 1 - Heat recovery from shower water

SAVE ENERGY

WITH COPPER

HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES

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Series foreword As a durable and sustainable metal with a long service life and full recyclability, copper plays a crucial role in the heating and cooling, plumbing, wiring, lighting and roofing of buildings. When it comes to making buildings more ‘green’ – i.e. with design, construction and operation that minimises negative impacts on the environment, or even offers positive contributions - key components such as energy efficiency and smarter resource usage depend on copper. The greener the building, the more copper is needed.

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Save more than 50% on your water heating bill with copper How it works?

Copper is the best heat conductor.

Product information and manufacturers

Heat exchanger with 5 copper tubes © Joulia

HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES |

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Save more than 50% on your water heating bill with copper!

According to the European Commission buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. Renovation and improved energy efficiency have the potential to lead to significant energy savings, which could reduce the EU’s total energy consumption by 5-6% and lower CO2 emissions by about 5%.

If we look at the evolution of residential energy demands, we see that the energy required for heating has fallen dramatically, and as a result the energy needed to produce hot water represents an ever-larger share of total household energy use at home. Considering that the clear majority of that energy is wasted by flowing down the drain, harvesting heat from our showers could be a simple way to save energy and money.

Figure 1: Heat recovery from shower water before and after Š Joulia HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES |

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A drain heat exchanger could effectively recapture that energy, reducing our energy consumption in a costeffective manner. New models of heat exchangers for waste heat recovery for residential buildings are able to recover more than 50% of the waste heat from shower drains and offering a good return on investment.

How it works?

The drain heat recovery system has no moving parts and requires no electricity to operate. A specifically engineered copper piping configuration transfers heat energy from the waste hot shower water to the incoming fresh water supply warming it from around 10 up to 25°C. When the cold water arrives at the mixing valve, it is much warmer, and therefore substantially less hot water is required from the water heater or solar array.

In case of storage-type systems recaptured heat energy from the shower might be used to preheat the tank water.

Figure 2: Heat recovery from shower water operational scheme Š Wagner Solar 6

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SAVE ENERGY WITH COPPER

40°C

60°C

25°C Video: Heat recovery from shower water operational scheme © Wagner Solar

10°C

HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES |

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DSS showerdrain channel / Meander Heat Recovery

DSS showertray / Wagner Solar 8

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SAVE ENERGY WITH COPPER

iZi Š Zypho

Copper is the best heat conductor.

Thanks to its thermal conductivity, copper is the ideal material for the manufacture of all types of heat exchangers. Copper heat exchangers are easily fabricated and have excellent corrosion resistance. There are many different ways copper is used in heating and cooling applications. Copper is used as a bulk material to radiate heat, as a pipe to transfer refrigerants, as a surface to collect the suns energy. It can be used as a heat pipe or part of a heat pump, as a fin material to transfer energy to and from the air or as a conductor of heat from one material to another. Simple or complex geometries can easily be made to maximize the cost efficiency of the transfer of energy.

HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES |

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Heating and cooling accounts for 48% of European final energy demand. 70% of that is low to medium heat below 250 degrees. Copper is used in various types of clean energy such as solar thermal, geothermal and biomass applications.

Typical applications include radiators, air coolers, oil coolers and mobile air conditioners in transport; heat sinks for electric equipment; calorifiers, heat pumps for domestic and industrial water heating and coils in airconditioning and refrigeration units. With clever design copper can make heat exchanger units eco friendly, economical and future proof for natural refrigerants.

“It’s so simple.” copperplumbing.org.uk ... your comprehensive source of technical information about copper tube installation in a wide range of applications.

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ReQup®-Plus © Gaïa Green

Product information and manufacturers

zypho.eu

joulia.com

meanderhr.com

dutchsolarsystems.com

Wagner Solar gaiagreen.net

wagner-solar.com

European Association for wastewater recovery: ehtech.wixsite.com/eurowwhr HEAT RECOVERY FROM SHOWER WATER USING COPPER TUBES |

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Contact Copper Initiative 5 Grovelands Business Centre, Boundary Way Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 7TE, UK Email: info@copperalliance.org.uk Web: copperplumbing.org.uk 12

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SAVE ENERGY WITH COPPER