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| Flue Damper -- ACT Non-electronic | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15th, 2010 02:42 am |
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1st Post |
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Jeeter Member
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A marvelous 1996 Home Energy Magazine Online article by Larry and Suzanne Weingarten describes an imminent non-electric water heater flue damper made by ACT. Another article by by Doug Johnson and Edward Wyatt in the same magazine a year later says it's designed to replace the standard draft diverter but suggests that these dampers may not function with the low vapor pressures of high-efficiency water heaters. What's the latest word on these dampers? Can I get one? Do I want one? Here are links to the two articles: http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/96/960510.html#side2 http://homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/97/970714.html Thank you, John
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| Posted: Sat Jul 17th, 2010 06:03 pm |
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2nd Post |
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eleent Member 
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Hello: I've forwarded your question to ACT, so we may get a response from them. Sadly, the damper never went into production, essentially because of the difficulties caused by turf wars and small thinking in the water heating industry. Lots of good ideas never make it to market. For any heater that is non-condensing, this damper would have made sense. I'll encourage ACT to reconsider pushing forward on it in this new "green" climate. It might have been an idea slightly before it's time  In the mean time, here is an article that describes the "U" tube heater, (picture is missing) where the flue acts as a heat trap with no moving parts and was commercially available. http://www.pmengineer.com/Articles/Feature_Article/2000/08/29/The-History-of-Domestic-Water-Heating . This is why studying the past can be so very useful. Yours, Larry
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| Posted: Mon Jul 19th, 2010 02:06 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Jeeter Member
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Thank you, Larry. I enjoyed reading your article on the history of heating water and liked the many ideas, including that of a u-shaped heat trapping flue. Clearly good design is not the only factor that determines product viability. A fun movie on this theme was The Man in the White Suit with Alec Guinness in 1951. It's about a man who discovers a marvelous textile that never soils, never wears out and always looks new. Rather than being seen as a boon to mankind, it is regarded as a dire threat to the economic establishment that must be squelched. At least that's what I recall hearing about the movie. I've yet to see it but been meaning to for some decades now. Your article mentions metal drain valves being replaced with plastic ones. I recently installed a plastic 3/4" ball valve on my tempering tank. It was cheaper than a brass valve and looked fine to me. Do you think brass valves are better to use on a water heater? I appreciate your thoughtful and informative replies. John
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| Posted: Mon Jul 19th, 2010 06:25 pm |
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4th Post |
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eleent Member
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Hello: A plastic (PVC?) ball valve on a tempering tank is fine as it will never see the sorts of temperatures it would see in a gas fired or solar tank. PVC has a limit of 140 degrees at little pressure, but can take lots of pressure at room temp. Sounds like you're doing some interesting things as tempering tanks are not too common Yours, Larry ps. It was once rumored that Thomas Edison invented a shirt that would not need washing for a year. You just peeled off layers as they got dirty. He even got orders for the shirt, though the rumors were false. It does make one wonder about how the concept of bathing was viewed then  For fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRgn8Rim2o
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| Posted: Tue Jul 20th, 2010 05:58 pm |
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5th Post |
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Jeeter Member
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Larry, Thanks for the You-Tube link. That was fun. Yep, PVC valve, and I should've been able to answer that question for myself. As for tempering (in general) and bathing (in particular), I think we tend too little toward the former and too much toward the latter these days. Daily hot showers with soap remove natural protective coatings and aren't all that great for the skin. I think body odor has more to do with diet than with bathing. Or maybe I'm just losing my sense of smell. I'm way off the topic here. For more about my tempering tank, see the "Monel Relic as a Tempering Tank" post. Appreciatively, John
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