Water Heater Uses Microwaves, Saves Energy?

Per Article in Globe and Mall:

Pulsar Advanced Technologies, Town of Mount-Royal, Canada, has announced that it will launch its lead product, the Vulcanus MK4, a tankless water heater using microwave technology to heat water on demand. This technology with super-heating capabilities will drastically cut energy costs and totally eliminate the need to store hot water. The Vulcanus MK4 is making its world premier at Construct Canada in Toronto between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, 2005.

The technology is designed to eliminate the deadly Legionella Pneumophila, since water will not stagnate, as it does with conventional hot water heaters. It can heat water from 35 degrees Fahrenheit to 140 degrees Fahrenheit in seconds and can source multiple applications at once: showers, dishwasher, sink usages and more. The unit is the size of a stereo speaker with a sleek modern look, making it ideal for condos and apartments, while powerful enough to serve the needs of any size family.

Courtesy of the Engineer Poet:

Microwaves are not magic.  Generating microwaves is a lossy process.  You can turn on a magnetron in a fraction of a second (if its filament is hot), but you're going to lose up to half the input power as heat in the device itself.

Point 1:  It is impossible for a microwave-based water heater to require less energy or deliver hot water faster than an on-demand resistance heater.

Point 2:  It is very unlikely that the microwave heater will have lower losses, because it will need to keep its filament powered for instant-on operation, and the heat dissipated in the magnetron (which will have to be water-cooled) will leave some unusable heat in the machine itself when the water stops flowing.  That energy is lost.

Engineer Poets comment incorporated 11/28/2005.

Resource: Pulsar announces water heater using microwaves, GLOBEANDMALL.COM, November 22, 2005

More blogs about consumer technology, conservation, energy

Comments

[odograph]

My first thought was "what's the kWh draw, for a typical home?"

That should be a simple enough thing for the manufacturers to provide.

(as a glancing aside, it is amusing to talk about "waste heat" in a heating application. The question might be how much heat of all types can be passed to the target, and how much is lost to air (in summer time ;-))

[karl (scam? despite spending too much time just now don't know)]

http://www.industrialmicrowave.com/technologies.htm

Is a credible link on the core technology even though it's not retail.

Specifically it's a buck fifty for every dollar compared to combustion technologies.

The critic missed the point. Using 100 percent efficient resistive requires a large tank because insufficient surface area limits the amount of watts it can handle.

Why that is I don't know but it is true.

The grid of course though doesn't want to have toinvest in demand charging meters for every condo.

Tanked heaters are profitable because they sometimes are on 24x7. Only the temperature varies and simple valves make that transparent to the showerer.

However the price, reported as $800-1000 seems to suggest that a heat pump could be afforded within tha scale, although it would require an air supply to harvest heat from and the air would have to be warm, but it would be wiser as an investment then expensive passive panels.

Carrier made such a three function device years ago.

So mainly this offers a way of reducing the maintenance of inefficient water heating and the size, weight, etc. It also saves energy from not wasting hot water. But our grid could not accomidate it. TOo many people shower at the same time on any city block. Even new construction would see the showering dhw demand cycle shorten from many times the duration of showers to just that duration.

Someone must of posted something about there manufacturing status as it's now early 07 and there is a lag time meaning if there are not already a lot of these assembled they are behind schedule.

WE can learn a lot by the fact that google has no such hit despite many minutes searching. It should of been called out months ago, and the awards it's won, the actual media articles about it locked as to comments are not, are an insult to the public trust.

But the real insult is on standard residential eletric rates being a bluff. No utility can provide even half of the main breaker rating if even ten percent demand it at any time.

The tank limits the amount of hotwater we use- to the amount ultimately most profitable to the utility.

Same goes for the lack of ice storage. There however the net energy used would be reduced at the same time as the occupied comfort increased.

Again there we suffer tghe occasional tgoo warm home- only to lin nthe stock holders pockets with unearned, litterally by our sweat not there's, gouging and waste.

Of course I woulod be fremis to point out the lack of shared boilers in mf is the greatest evidence of enterprise corruption against occupant interest- that includes earthlings generally.

[Ana]

If you are looking for a tankless water heater I would recommend the Titan electronic tankless water heater. I purchased one years ago and I enjoyed it so much I actually started a company selling them. The titan don't have the temperature variation problems that other units have and they are protected from dry-starts. They are very compact, very powerful and made in the USA by Niagara Industries who have over 23 years of experience. For more information please visit me site at www.etankless.com or you can call me at 888-688-8010

[Ryan Madison]

It's Great blog...

[Brian]

Wanderport Corporation has purchased the patent and worldwide distribution rights of the Pulsar microwave tankless water heater. This company will be bringing this product to market before 2010 year end. They are moving very fast with their business plan and will be radically changing the water heater market worldwide.

Website: www.wanderport-ir.com

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[plumbing]

Heat pump water heaters use electricity to move heat from one place to another instead of generating heat directly. To heat water for homes, heat pump water heaters work like refrigerators in reverse.

[Instantaneous Water Heater]

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[heating plumbing]

A tankless water heaters cost substantially more than either gas or electric. They provide hot water only as needed so there is no storage tank and no standby heat loss.