Quote:
Originally Posted by bennelson
It might be possible to design a heat exchanger as part of this system so that incoming (cold) well water could get pre-heated before going to the water heater.
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you can get a heat exchanger that goes on the drain, it's a short run of 4" cooper drain pipe with 1/2" copper wrapping around the outside, leaving the inside of the drain pipe smooth to prevent clogs, in my mind the best way to make use of this otherwise lost heat would be to have your newly heated heat your cold water that is going to your shower valve so the run of pipes would be rather short, so once your drain water heats up it starts to heat up your cold water coming to the shower head, letting you turn down your hot water valve, so you pull less water from your hot water heater, get a thermostatically controlled shower valve and it will adjust automatically to keep your shower water at 130F or whatever you set it at.