Major appliances are major energy drains, and if you have a traditional, tank-based hot water heater it can be a major factor in your monthly utilities bills.
Haier's Power Pad promises to make those things have less of an impact on people's finances -- at least when it comes to showers. It's a heat exchanger that you stand on whilst washing that man right out of your hair, water running off your toned body and through the vanes in the Pad, warming the cold water that's pumped through it. That water is then deposited into the hot water tank, which now has a little less work to do. Haier is hoping to get this to market in China within the next two months for ¥4,000 (about $600) and, by that time, boost its efficiency to 30 percent. That's still 10 percent lower than the
EcoDrain we spied last year, but we have a more practical concern: what happens when that thing gets clogged with hair and various bathing products? It doesn't look
particularly easy to clean.
posted August 2nd 2010 9:59AM
I see something that resembles cables and metal leads in that pic - that makes me very uncomfortable, considering where it is. Usually, water + the above = bad day.
@whySoSerious Those would be pipes containing the water pumped through the thing.
@whySoSerious water + water pipes = bad day? You must have a lot of bad days.
@whySoSerious
@TimStevens - I see... put the words in the title together differently to see it as a 'heating pad', even after reading the article.
@d0mth0ma5 - if you read what I wrote I said water + what appears to be cables and metal leads, not water + pipes. Nice attempt at being a smart ass though (missed out on the 'smart' but achieved the 'ass' part).
@whySoSerious
Why so serious?
I hope this doesn't get a ''Hands On Review''.
@The Terror Wrist "Hands" will be still the better part :)
@The Terror Wrist
If there is one, please let it be a female editor :)
Doesn't seem very comfortable to stand on either!
@yeoldgreat1
My thought exactly! I can see it now.. " yeah i fell through my shower door and cut my anus... but it sure beats those high electric bills."
@heathmaxie
If you manage to cut your anus that's a remarkable feat in itself. Worst mental picture ever.
@rutter9 The anus is just the worst case scenario. Imagine cutting everything but your anus.
@yeoldgreat1
Plus if the heat exchanger is far enough away from the water heater, a lot of the energy dumped on the water will be lost along the pipes on the way to the water heater tank.
@yeoldgreat1 That's what she said
@cloud858rk At least the warm blood gushing out of your wounds onto the pad will help the environment!
Surely having to power a pump for this defeats the point?
@LloydStemple Not if the power to pump is less than the power to heat, which is entirely plausible.
@LloydStemple
There isnt a pump, you turn on your shower and the water goes through this device first, then up the wall and out your showerhead, as the water coming out starts getting hot and falling down onto this exchanger it heats up the water flowing through it so you dont have to use as much water from your hot water heater. You get the same temperature from using slightly colder water coming through the exchanger.
@cburris52001
wow, i have to give you some credit for coming up with total bullshit but somehow managing to sound like you know what you're talking about, which you obviously don't. water from the shower never enters this device. it flows over the pipes (or fins, most likely), which contain clean cold water, and the heat from the shower water heats up the cold water. the cold water (which is now warm), is then deposited back into the hot water tank. as far as the shower itself is concerned, it's just getting hot water from the tank as per usual, except that the hot water heater can now produce the same amount of hot water using less energy. and yes, there most definitely is a pump.
@d0mth0ma5 depends on where you live. here on long island it costs more for electric then gas.
@majortom1981 Sorry? I don't see the relevance. You won't use more water this way, all this means is that the energy from your hot water from the shower will heat the water going to your Hot Water Tank. The issue is whether the energy it saves you from not having to heat up the water as much (due to the above mentioned process) will be negated by having to pump the water through the "Power Pad" system rather than just going straight to the Hot Water Tank. My guess is that it will, by a distance (water heating takes up a relatively high amount of energy).
@majortom1981 I don't know where I got water from, but I think that the point still stands that you'll save more money on the gas you aren't using to heat the water than you'll spend on the electricity to pump the water.
Or you could just turn down the amount of heat in your showers. I prefer lukewarm showers.
So all my hot, soapy, dirty water goes back into the tank with the clean water? Where do I sign up?
@chrisaroz No, just like the air running over your car's radiator doesn't wind up in the coolant system.
@TimStevens Oh. Yeah. That does make a bit more sense :/
@chrisaroz Now imagine dumping shampoo and dirty hair over your radiator every morning and you can imagine why this might be a problem after awhile...
ecodrain seems to be the far better concept:
better efficiency
isn't directly exposed to so much dirt
you don't have to stand on it
doesn't need as much aditional pipework
invisible
So unless the house were designed with this in mind, installation will be a pain since you then need another line going back to the water tank.
Ecodrain is supposed to be 40% more efficient. This is supposed to be 30% more efficient. This makes Ecodrain 33% more efficient, not 10% more efficient.
40/30 - 1 = .33
@Jf - they said 10% LESS efficient...
one is 40% - the other is 30% - they weren't doing the percentage improvement, just the difference - eg - one room is 40c the other room is 30c - the cooler room is 10c cooler than the hotter room... they don't have to report it all in percentages of improvement...
@ljf I concede the point to you. However, it would be less misleading if they said "10 points" instead of 10% lower. Generally speaking, you shouldn't compare percentages directly like they've done.
Of course a Tankless, gas heater is more efficient than a Tank system any day. Once you include the extra $600 to buy it and what ever the installation costs are for this thing, as a system, it's not much more expensive as an initial investment. I also don't like the Idea of tapping a hole in the wall in my shower that isn't a drain.
@Critic2029
The average 40 gallon natural gas 40k BTU/HR water heater for residential use has a sell price of about $350. And will provide 40 gallons of hot water with a 40 gallon (approx) per hour recovery rate. It has an energy factor of 0.65
A small tankless water heater (in fact the smallest) has a sell price of approximately $1000 and will provide approximately 4.1 GPM of hot water (at a 70° F rise). It has a modulating btu rate of from 19K BTU/Hr all the way up to 190K BTU/Hr (which is what it needs to produce that 4.1GPM rate). It has an energy factor of .82
(These figures are directly from the AO Smith specification sheets)
considering a tank water heater should be running at at least 130°F if not 140°F to combat Legionnaires Disease possibilities, and that most water in the US has an input temperature of approximately 60°F, that tankless water heater is only going to "save" you money after a very long time and then only if your household is one of the ones that uses little water at one time and has long periods of inactivity of hot water use.
if you want to "save" money on heating water, you don't do it with a "tankless" whole house water heater, you do it either with several Point of Use water heaters, or by using the waste heat from a highly efficient (96% plus) boiler system which also is used for home heating when necessary.
As to this product, anyone whose ever dealt with heat exchangers will know it is a nightmare waiting to happen.
Even a small layer of deposits on the outside of the heat exchanger tubes will cause significant decreases in the thermal transfer efficiency of the exchanger. which is why boilers, and large condensers (like the ones i worked on in a naval nuclear power plant), require hourly chemical monitoring to prevent the slightest buildup of scaling.
Now turn from scaling to a nice thick (comparatively) thick gooey coating of shampoo residue, soap scum, hard water deposits, and some human skin/hair detritus, and the ability of this device to do anything remotely like it claims after about a week of installation time without serious cleaning and maintenance I would severely doubt.
@TheRealMikeyG
Good info, thanks.
@TheRealMikeyG
I don't know if what you said is right but it sure sounds good. +++ for trying to educate those of us not familiar with different water heating technologies.
I just KNOW I'd stub my toes on that thing, and what about the ease (or lack thereof) of keeping that silly contraption CLEAN?? STUPID PRODUCT.
See I've never understood why water is wasted in a shower. Moderate filtration and pumping it back to the water heater via a solar heating solution should save money not only on your water bill but electricity bill. Its not as if you are drinking the stuff when you take a shower. Well most people don't at any rate.
@John Doe
Gray water recycling can't be put back into the water heater as other sources use it that require a clean source. But there are solutions out there (toilets can run on gray water) that are implemented. What you actually want to do here is capture the waste HEAT via a heat exchanger. Kinda like a heatsink between 2 sources of water. Solar water heaters don't heat the actual water you consume, but rather exchange the heat in a heat exchanger. The water in the panels most likely has coolant additives to prevent algae growth and freezing much like the water circuit in your car.
@John Doe
do you drink out of the glasses you run through your dishwasher?
Do you eat off the plates you rinse in the kitchen sink?
It all comes from the same hot water source.......
as was stated, grey water recycling can be used for NON-POTABLE places like toilets, however, it still has to be treated to remove microbes and bacteria if it is going to be used in a situation where potential contact with humans or animals is possible.
Just because you dont eat out of your toilet, doesn't mean you want water that has potentially been used to clean something covered in bacteria to be stored in its tank or bowl.
@TheRealMikeyG *sighs* I knew that. Not enough caffeine in my bloodstream this morning.
Pay another $600 and buy a tankless heater and spare yourself the trouble this thing will cause.
@vikingdave
This thing is kinda dumb. You're better off putting a heat exchanger in the house drain that warms up the water prior to going into the hot water heater. The hot water heater will apply heat as needed to maintain temperature.
This thing will make temperature management a pain in the ass since there is no automated temperature control after it.
What if you pee in the shower?
@pacific
Why free energy, of course :-D
With a system like this you could really go green and just have your family ALWAYS urinate in the shower. Saves water from flushing the toilets and provides extra heat you can use to heat your hot water.
>> that thing gets clogged with hair and various bathing products?
Silly Engadget. Everyone knows Asians don't have body hair.
Washing your man outta your hair? Hmmm.
@insidertrading
Yeah. I'm not sure what washing man out of my hair means, but I'm pretty sure I've never had to do it.
@insidertrading
It is a reference to an old song, but probably remembered mostly by anyone over age 40 from a shampoo commercial sometime in the 70s/80s era.
I remember trying to combine a shower and a bath by leaving the plug in while showering. Since the result was a bath of cold water, I'm not sure how well this will actually work.