The Voltex hybrid water heater mates a heat pump water heater with an electric storage water heater. Heat pump water heaters are very efficient. They operate much like your refrigerator or air conditioner. They pull heat out of the air and instead of transferring it to back to the air as your air conditioner does, it uses it to heat water.
Heat pump water heaters work just like heat pumps in refrigerators and window air conditioners. Its much less expensive to move heat around than it is to generate heat with electricity. The heat pump water heater uses a heat exchanger to cool the air and the recovered heat from the air is put into the water with a second heat exchanger.
The NEXT Hybrid achieves a very high efficiency--it is rated at 90 per cent "thermal efficiency." The high efficiency is achieved through a process in which a secondary heat exchanger is used to capture the heated flue gas from the tankless unit and route it back through the buffer tank to extract additional heat.
There are several manufacturers of hybrid water heaters that use a combination storage tank and tankless water heater. The idea is to eliminate some of the problems associated with tankless water heaters while still taking advantage of the positive side of tankless heaters like high energy efficiency and endless hot water. By using a much smaller tank the standby losses are much smaller than those associated with a full sized gas storage tank type water heater.
Heat Pump Hybrid Water Heaters are basically an electric water heater with a heat pump mounted on top. There isn't much new about a heat pump water heater with a 40 or 50 gallon tank. They have been around for over 40 years. A heat pump water heater works just like those awful air conditioners in motel rooms. Instead of blowing air through a heat exchanger to warm or cool it, the heat pump water heater runs the water through the heat exchanger to heat it.
Tank type water heaters are simple to install, operate, and repair. They are reliable and often the first thing to fail is the tank which begins to leak. In my experience most storage water heaters never need flushing or any other maintenance. Some manufacturers recommend flushing periodically, but I know very few people who have ever performed any maintenance on their water heater. I know people who aren't even sure where it is.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents I just finished filing a provisional patent application online. It was pretty easy and it cost a total of $110. Here are the step by step instructions on how to file a provisional patent application online. A provisional patent application must be followed within one year by a real patent application that refers back to it, or it will simply cease to exist. I recently purchased a book about how to patent ones own inventions, and I decided to do this provisional patent myself online. If you are inexperienced in the field of patents and would like to know more about them I would recommend that you get one of the many good books available and read it.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents A patent gives you the right to stop others from using, making, or selling your invention in the country issuing the patent. These rights are known as offensive rights since they allow you to take the offensive and sue an infringer.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents For those of you who are unfamiliar with patents here is a primer describing the basics of patents and answering some of the common questions that novice or newbie inventors have about patents. Let's begin with what exactly a patent is. Although most people believe a patent provides you with "protection" for your idea. Actually a patent provides you with "offensive" rights. It does not shield you from infringing other patents which would be a "defensive" right.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents For the US patent office the word "art" is used to refer to technology and previous knowledge of technology is referred to as " prior art". Prior art is the knowledge that existed prior to the date that you invented something related to that invention. According to the US patent laws, "prior art" means the state of knowledge existing or publicly available either before the date of your invention or more than one year prior to your earliest patent application date.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents I've introduced my invention, a selective asparagus harvester, to the public by putting it up on a website. Having disclosed the invention to the public starts a one year clock ticking upon which a patent, real or provisional, must be filed to retain the patent rights.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents I don't want to spend the money on a patent attorney at this time, but I also do not want to give up my patent rights. I've decided to file a Provisional Patent Application (PPA) instead. I have less than a year to file the PPA just like a Real Patent Application (RPA), but I can file the PPA myself, and then when the time comes to file the RPA I shall retain a patent attorney.
Expert Author: William J. Lund | Category: Patents There are actually three different kinds of patents according to the US patent and trademark office. The three types of patents are Utility patents, Design patents, and Plant patents. Utility patents are the patents most people think of when patents are brought up. Utility patents are an intellectual property right granted by the United States Government of the to inventors "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States" for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
Will my invention be successful in the market place? That is a question every inventor should ask and answer before expending time and money on that great new idea. Bringing a new product to market is an inherently risky venture. Over 90 per cent of all patented new inventions never make it to the marketplace.
Often the solution to a problem turns out to be an invention! Think about it, inventions solve problems. I invented an asparagus harvester because of labor problems. I invented the Metlund and Chilipepper hot water demand systems because it took too long to get hot water.
Quite often I am asked if it is safe to drink water that has passed through the water heater. My staunch opinion is that it is safe. Why do I think it is ok to drink hot water from the water heater? Well, there are a number of reasons. The water coming in from the water main or well enters the water heater and is then heated. Hot water is less capable of holding on to the dissolved minerals common in water, so some of the minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium, come out of solution and settle at the bottom of the tank. This is the sediment that accumulates in the water heater.
Obviously solar water heaters do save energy. Or at least they don't use energy that you have to pay for. It's free from the sun. But what about saving water? Saving water is becoming more and more important and will continue to become even more important in the future.
Residential hot water conservation is one of the last frontiers of available water conservation. Most homes waste tremendous amounts of water with their existing hot water plumbing. Every time you have to wait for hot water you are needlessly running water down the drain.
Inventions are becoming ever more complex. Even simple inventions often require some sort of control system. It may be that a simple machine invention you have come up with requires several actions to perform its intended function.
I suppose just by the fact that I have invented things makes me an inventor. But that's not really what I consider myself. I think more of myself as a problem solver. I love to solve technical problems and finding new ways of doing things better. Often that involves a new invention of some sort if there are patentable features.
