Whoop! interviews from Nerd Camp [The Westford Symposium on Building Science]. You know how much I love to interview my peers on my favorite topic, Building Science!
What a great interview. And so many good takeaways. I really like how you 1. focus on constantly learning 2. try to solve problems with science and 3. always seek out experts to improve the product you deliver to your customers. To top it all off you go out of your way to share this with other builders and potential clients. Hopefully the focus on conserving water by delivering hot water more quickly to the tap will spill over into other areas. For example It's always bothered me that we flush out toilets with potable water. Could we flush our toilets with water captured from the shower/tub/bath sink drains? Could we also capture the latent heat in the hot shower water that goes down the drain to preheat the cold water heading to the hot water heater?
I believe the hybrid water heater Gary speaks of is the Crossover Floor by HTP. Coincidentally, HTP also markets the same heater under the Westinghouse brand, and can be found at Home Depot and Menards. I'm surprised that even after Gary's advice, Matt continues to advocate for tankless.
Hey Matt, loving these longer form interviews, keep going rogue! Why no love for Solar Hot Water? We have one that works great and with rebates was about the same cost as tankless or standard gas with tank, but I rarely hear about it as an option here is Austin. Have you had bad experiences with them?
Is there anyway to design a home run pex system that is efficient in a large house 5000sqft. I love the pex manifold with centralized & individual shut offs. Even if you put in a bunch of hot water recirculators you would still be wasting a ton more water vs non home run system.
What a great interview. And so many good takeaways. I really like how you 1. focus on constantly learning 2. try to solve problems with science and 3. always seek out experts to improve the product you deliver to your customers. To top it all off you go out of your way to share this with other builders and potential clients. Hopefully the focus on conserving water by delivering hot water more quickly to the tap will spill over into other areas. For example It's always bothered me that we flush out toilets with potable water. Could we flush our toilets with water captured from the shower/tub/bath sink drains? Could we also capture the latent heat in the hot shower water that goes down the drain to preheat the cold water heading to the hot water heater?
I hooked up my hot water recirculating pump to the light switch in the bathrooms
I believe the hybrid water heater Gary speaks of is the Crossover Floor by HTP. Coincidentally, HTP also markets the same heater under the Westinghouse brand, and can be found at Home Depot and Menards.
I'm surprised that even after Gary's advice, Matt continues to advocate for tankless.
This guy is fascinating!
Hey Matt, loving these longer form interviews, keep going rogue!
Why no love for Solar Hot Water? We have one that works great and with rebates was about the same cost as tankless or standard gas with tank, but I rarely hear about it as an option here is Austin. Have you had bad experiences with them?
What do the waste and vent stacks have to do with water systems?
no thoughts on small pou electric tanks? Seems to solve some problems, for sure.
Which is water heater he talking about that looks like R2-D2?
Sooooo....who makes the R2D2 water heater?
I believe it's the HTP Crossover Floor water heater, also sold under the Westinghouse name at Home Depot and Menards.
Matt,
I'm still trying to find the hybrid water heater Gary spoke about. It's been driving me crazy. Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks
I believe it's the HTP Crossover Floor water heater, also sold under the Westinghouse name at Home Depot and Menards.
Herbert Massey I believe it is the A.O. Hybrid that works like a ac system to take heat out of the air....
I think it's the Rinnai hybrid
Is there anyway to design a home run pex system that is efficient in a large house 5000sqft. I love the pex manifold with centralized & individual shut offs. Even if you put in a bunch of hot water recirculators you would still be wasting a ton more water vs non home run system.
No, watch Gary's lesson on RUclips. All that extra pipe leads to more enevitable heat loss. Pex doubles the pipe length.
Please remove background notice.
11 seconds ................
Background noise was too disturbing. Hard to follow what he said.
learn to focus
I agree, background noise is very distracting, and I am an expert in focusing :-)
Yup tell the people in the background to shutttt up! Most distracting .
Who are the boneheads in the background talking? Can barely hear the convo half way through! Sorry for negativity.