Greetings everybody,
For my Sr. Project I will try to drop my energy cost by 25% by using an alternative resource (compost) to heat my basement and water heater.
My product will be a 9'x9'x9' compost bin located outside of my house. I will have a 30 gal water storage tank inside the compost heap so that the heat from the compost can heat the water. The water heater would act as a heat exchanger to a water heater backup with an electric backup. The hot water would be pumped to my basement that has radiant heat tubing installed in the floor. With the hot water going through the tubing it will heat the concrete flooring. The floor would then radiate the heat through out the house. The cool water would then be pumped back to the water tank so it could heat up once more. If the Compost heap core tempature should drop below 90 degrees F, the pumping would cease so that the compost can gain temperature.
Using this technique with the radiant heating tubes would only be used during the cold months of the year. But during the summer the hot water from the compost heap would be pumped to the water heater inside my house. If I extract enough heat without stalling the temperature of the compost, I would be able to pump the hot water through the radiant tubing and store hot water in an electric water heater in my home during the cold months of the year.
SInce my "main" product will be exceeding 10 tons, I will build a smaller version of my product on campus. I will be using a 4'x4'x4' compost heap, and I will have a greenhouse with plants connected to the compost heap to simulate my house.
-Charles (Max)
