Environmental Dryer

[ivor]

Oh! Oh!  Dibs on this on if no one else thought of it.

Can we use heat from the attic to dry clothes?  I know my attic is hot enough. 

[Aggie]

Why not?  Might want a good dust filter on the intake, but that'd be a BIG reduction in energy use I think.  I'm guessing most of the electricity used by a dryer is for the heat element.  Hmm...  good idea!

[ivor]

Hey!  Even a clocked that's stopped is right twice a day! 

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I already have a solar- and wind-powered dryer that I keep in the backyard.  I call it a "clothesline".

[Opsa]

But on rainy or cold days, an attic dryer is an interesting idea. The only problem is getting the clothes up there.

Could we rig a pulleyed line that goes up in a closet, or something?

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

It might be easier to get the air down from the attic than putting the clothes up there.

One worry would be insulation... if your attic has blown insulation, you won't want to disturb it with a lot of airflow.

What if you did something like this: put an intake on the roof, and connect it to either a plenum (i.e. a large chamber) or a long snakey duct that will let it pick up heat from the attic and lead it to a closet or whatnot that you've set up for the purpose (and sealed against leaks as well as possible).  Then, that closet has an exhaust (perhaps just a bathroom or kitchen exhaust fan) that exhausts the moist air through a convenient wall or roof.

Then, you set up the "drying closet" as a sort of indoor drying rack or clothesline.  When you turn the fan on, it would draw air in from outside, which would get passively heated, then sucked into the closet, and blown outside.

It'd be slower than a conventional dryer, but quicker than hanging things up normally... and with much less energy use than a gas or electric dryer.

One problem I can see, though, is that any time you punch holes through the insulating layers of your house (such as to put a duct through, or a hatch to take clothes up to the attic), you're compromising winter heat performance.

[Aggie]

One problem I can see, though, is that any time you punch holes through the insulating layers of your house (such as to put a duct through, or a hatch to take clothes up to the attic), you're compromising winter heat performance.

The passive heat system sounds good - I think heat exchangers in general are underutilized and have great potential for energy savings.  How about using an insulated, sealed hatch that could be secured in place during the winter months?   You also have to remember that MB's in Florida - they don't get winter the same way we do.

(or spring - we got 15+ cm of snow in Calgary last night)

I was thinking that using passively heated air to feed a normal dryer would cut costs - you could set it to low or air dry and reduce the amount of energy used to heat things up.   From the perspective of building a new house, maybe one could construct the attic space and southern outside wall as passive solar heat-exchangers to preheat both air (furnace, dryer) and water (going to the HW tank).  It'd probably enhance the insulating properties, although you'd need a thicker wall.  Not sure if this would work in the frozen north, though, particularly WRT water.  You're asking for a freeze-up at -30 C.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

One problem I can see, though, is that any time you punch holes through the insulating layers of your house (such as to put a duct through, or a hatch to take clothes up to the attic), you're compromising winter heat performance.

The passive heat system sounds good - I think heat exchangers in general are underutilized and have great potential for energy savings.  How about using an insulated, sealed hatch that could be secured in place during the winter months?   You also have to remember that MB's in Florida - they don't get winter the same way we do.

(or spring - we got 15+ cm of snow in Calgary last night)

Yes, though we don't get summer the same way they do either... insulation's still important there, but to keep the heat out.

I was thinking that using passively heated air to feed a normal dryer would cut costs - you could set it to low or air dry and reduce the amount of energy used to heat things up.   From the perspective of building a new house, maybe one could construct the attic space and southern outside wall as passive solar heat-exchangers to preheat both air (furnace, dryer) and water (going to the HW tank).

When I was in Mexico, it seemed like every house had a black plastic drum on the roof. I finally realized what they were: hot water tanks, heated for free by passive solar.  Wouldn't work in Canada, but still a really good idea.

If you wanted to go whole-hog on passive solar, you could probably mount a few panels like this on your south-facing wall.

[Griffin NoName]

A dumb waiter would be ideal for getting the clothes up an down to the attic.

[ivor]

In Florida the washer and dryer are usually in the garage or in a room just off.  Shouldn't be a problem for air conditioning since these rooms aren't air conditioned anyway.  Should be a piece of cake to plumb some warm air from the attic into the dryer.  The tube wouldn't have to be insulated or anything since it would be short.  One could just use a hole cutter and stuff a self locking vent up into the attic that would be clear of the insulation.  The air in my attic is one hundred twenty degrees in the late spring to fall anytime after noon.  The only thing I am worried about is that the element will burn up since the air is warmer than normal.

[Aggie]

MB - I'd try simply putting the first load on air dry and see how that works.  Not sure if dryers regulate the energy to the element only by the setting, or if they use a thermostat.  If it's a thermostat, you might be OK, but otherwise I think you'll need to compensate a bit.

Bonus to this process:  If you're pulling heat out of the attic, you should help your house to stay a bit cooler at the same time.

[ivor]

Sounds awesome.  I'll call it the Air Fluff 3000. 

[anthrobabe]

y'all sure are some smart siblings!

when I first saw the title of this I thought

Uncle Einar!!!! ( Ray Bradbury short story character)
some may know who and what I mean.
anyway uncle einar has large green wings and is coaxed into helping dry the laundry before a rain one day by his wife-- check it out, one of his sweeter( though still Bradbury) stories
look in "Dark Carnival", "The October Country" or "R is for Rocket" collections.

About the black drums on rooftops-- we used to do this in AZ also---- VERY HOT WATER is produced!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

MB, one little detail that you should take into account while going into your attic or pumping air out of it: if yours is like mine the insulation is made of fiberglass which you don't want to get in your lungs (read this).

[ivor]

My lungs are toast anyway.  Could be worse I suppose.