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Author Topic: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?  (Read 7282 times)

Jwood

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Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« on: December 29, 2014, 06:06:59 AM »

I would like to try this out! Anyone out there drying their clothes with water?

 http://www.outdoorwoodfurnaceparts.com/proddetail.php?prod=DryerKit
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LittleJohn

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2014, 08:04:31 AM »

DO NOT show this to my wife  >:(

...cause she will want it
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mlappin

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2014, 08:05:51 AM »

Suppose it's worth the $300 especially if you have an electric or LP dryer, I've looked into it myself a few times but with nat gas I'd never get the cost of the unit back. I only pay the minimum the way it is in the winter and that's with a nat gas stove and clothes dryer.
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Shrek1112

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2014, 08:19:31 AM »

I would be very interested to know how this hooks up to a current LP dryer. If I could thumb my nose at the delivery man again it would be a very happy new year.  :thumbup:
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juddspaintballs

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2014, 08:19:58 AM »

It would appear that it requires A LOT of hot water to heat the dryer enough to work.  I would think it would take a significant amount of time to dry the clothes as well.  Not to mention the fact that you're blowing all of that hot air that you used your precious boiler wood to make right outside with no heat in your house.  You'd be better served buying a gas dryer and buying the gas to heat your clothes dryer if you wanted to save money.  They work faster than electric dryers. 
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Jwood

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2014, 09:16:30 AM »

It would appear that it requires A LOT of hot water to heat the dryer enough to work.  I would think it would take a significant amount of time to dry the clothes as well.  Not to mention the fact that you're blowing all of that hot air that you used your precious boiler wood to make right outside with no heat in your house.  You'd be better served buying a gas dryer and buying the gas to heat your clothes dryer if you wanted to save money.  They work faster than electric dryers.

Your typical dryer puts out 20-25,000 btu per hour so if this unit puts out up to 110,000btu I would think it would dry faster but I don't know also as far as blowing the hot air outside I don't see what difference it makes regardless of what way you dry your clothes in a dryer the hot air is going outside. Personally if it worked I would rather use an extra cord of wood than pay the electric company or gas man.
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JTS717

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2014, 10:47:01 AM »

It would appear that it requires A LOT of hot water to heat the dryer enough to work.  I would think it would take a significant amount of time to dry the clothes as well.  Not to mention the fact that you're blowing all of that hot air that you used your precious boiler wood to make right outside with no heat in your house.  You'd be better served buying a gas dryer and buying the gas to heat your clothes dryer if you wanted to save money.  They work faster than electric dryers.

I have an electric dryer and bought an adapter for $5 that filters the lint out of the dryer exhaust so all that hot air blows into the house.  You could still use this with the hot water dryer but definitely not with a gas dryer. 
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marty

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2014, 12:12:34 PM »

There is a reason that hot air goes outside, its wet and will cause moisture issues blowing it into your house
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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2014, 12:45:36 PM »

I don't want to be around when you tell your wife she has to stoke the stove whenever she does laundry.  >:D
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userdk

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2014, 12:47:40 PM »

Quote "It would appear that it requires A LOT of hot water to heat the dryer enough to work.  I would think it would take a significant amount of time to dry the clothes as well.  Not to mention the fact that you're blowing all of that hot air that you used your precious boiler wood to make right outside with no heat in your house.  You'd be better served buying a gas dryer and buying the gas to heat your clothes dryer if you wanted to save money.  They work faster than electric dryers.

I have an electric dryer and bought an adapter for $5 that filters the lint out of the dryer exhaust so all that hot air blows into the house.  You could still use this with the hot water dryer but definitely not with a gas dryer. "

Does your house smell like fabric softener sheets? ;)
« Last Edit: December 29, 2014, 12:49:29 PM by userdk »
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Crow

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2014, 04:48:10 PM »

Quote "It would appear that it requires A LOT of hot water to heat the dryer enough to work.  I would think it would take a significant amount of time to dry the clothes as well.  Not to mention the fact that you're blowing all of that hot air that you used your precious boiler wood to make right outside with no heat in your house.  You'd be better served buying a gas dryer and buying the gas to heat your clothes dryer if you wanted to save money.  They work faster than electric dryers.

I have an electric dryer and bought an adapter for $5 that filters the lint out of the dryer exhaust so all that hot air blows into the house.  You could still use this with the hot water dryer but definitely not with a gas dryer. "

Does your house smell like fabric softener sheets? ;)

  I have an adaptor also on my electric dryer vent. It has a flap on it so you can switch from venting outside for summer or inside for winter. You don't get that much moisture from it unless your washers spin cycle doesn't work very well or is turned to a lower speed on purpose. Some moisture in the house in the winter is ok as the air gets dry anyway. And yes, it does smell like fabric softener only as long as the dryer is running.   :)
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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2014, 06:06:52 PM »

There is a reason that hot air goes outside, its wet and will cause moisture issues blowing it into your house

It gets way too dry in my house without running a humidifier in the winter. Blowing the dryer exhaust inside the house helps a lot but not enough to keep it from getting too dry. It the summer it would definitely be a problem but so would the heat.
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RSI

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2014, 06:11:13 PM »

A normal clothes dryer uses about 17k btu. LP are 22k (input) because the lower efficiency.

You will probably only be able to get about 10-15K btu into a dryer with a hydronic adapter because of the temperature available. It is still plenty but takes longer on large loads. I have one I cobbled together years ago that worked well. It is not really usable right now do to a change I made in the plumbing. (I made changes that allowed me to use a much smaller pump and get the same flow through heat exchangers)
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mlappin

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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2014, 10:12:32 PM »

There is a reason that hot air goes outside, its wet and will cause moisture issues blowing it into your house

It gets way too dry in my house without running a humidifier in the winter. Blowing the dryer exhaust inside the house helps a lot but not enough to keep it from getting too dry. It the summer it would definitely be a problem but so would the heat.

Same here, actually went with an in furnace humidifier as I was tired of carrying water to the other. Went with a Autoflo S2020, think it will add up to 21 gallons a day.

Since it came up, picked up a scratch and dent front load washer last winter when we got back from the UK as the wife loves the ones over there. Have the older Calypso for work clothes, the front load is for good clothes. Worked great for 3-4 months then the clothes started coming out excessively wet, they have a sensor that works off pressure to gauge how much water is in the tub, called on the warranty and they actually sent me a new one :o Installed that and it still did it, turns out from being over full of water it got out of balance once and the hose that goes to the sensor came loose and the motor rubbed a hole in it. A trip to the local garage for a piece of vacuum hose solved that, also drilled a few small holes and used zip ties to hold it in place so I'd never have to deal with that happy crap again. FWI, for those that have the new HE washing machines that feel you want more water in the wash/rinse cycle, simply change that hose going to the sensor with one several feet longer, a larger volume of air in the line means it takes more water to build the same pressure at the switch.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2014, 10:14:26 PM by mlappin »
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Re: Hydronic heat clothes dryer upgrade?
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2014, 11:21:07 PM »

FWI, for those that have the new HE washing machines that feel you want more water in the wash/rinse cycle, simply change that hose going to the sensor with one several feet longer, a larger volume of air in the line means it takes more water to build the same pressure at the switch.

I love it when you do this kind of stuff mlappin!  8) :thumbup: :thumbup:
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