Household hot water from your server farm?

winston1234 · March 6

I recall the videos where you plumbed your server rack to use the swimming pool as a heat sink. What about using the server rack to heat household hot water?

thrasher_565 · March 6

9 minutes ago, winston1234 said:

I recall the videos where you plumbed your server rack to use the swimming pool as a heat sink. What about using the server rack to heat household hot water?

ya but that is water and the stuff in your pc has a premix to proven build up. if you want to do it you need a phase changer. basically it keeps both loops there own and transfers heat from one to another.

but dumping heat in to the room will make the room hotter witch in turn will read hotter and turn the heating off. so its not like its being wasted anyway...

you could add a on/off timer to your heater too to save on power say turn it off when you sleep kinda deal.

there might even be a heater with another loop in it you can tie in too

but when it equals out the water in the loop will be hotter... so... probly wont work. only if the heater was off and you use the pc to heat it up posably...

Edited March 6 by thrasher_565

Spotty · March 6

11 minutes ago, winston1234 said:

What about using the server rack to heat household hot water?

Heating the pool works because the water in the pool is colder than the water coming from the PC. Any heat in the PC loop is transferred in to the colder pool as the two systems try to equalise their temperature.

The water in the hot water tank is hotter than the water coming from the PCs. Hot water systems usually target around 60°C water temperature in the tank. The water in the loop coming from the PC would likely be around 30°C. The temperature between the two systems will want to equalise and the hot water heater thermostat will run the hot water tanks heating elements until it reaches its 60°C. The colder water in the PC loop will draw heat from the water in the hot water system and it would take longer for the hot water heater to heat the water tank as that heat energy is being transferred in to the PC loop. You'd effectively be using the hot water tank heater to heat the PC loop.

It is still possible to incorporate the PC loop in to the hot water system. It would require a separate tank that feeds in to the hot water system. Use the heat from the PC loop to pre-heat the incoming tap water before it goes in to the hot water tank to be heated. If the incoming tap water is 20°C then the PC loop that is 30°C can raise the temperature of that cold water before it is then filled in to the hot water tank which would reduce the energy needed for the 2nd tank to heat the water to its target 60°C. Would it be worth it? *shrugs*

Also Technology Connections has some good videos on hot water tanks, if that's your thing.

thrasher_565 · March 6

i was vary in to green stuff for a time there still am

this is a old channel with diy options and there one were they make a cheap solor water heater. to build it in to a house you would need way of disconeting it and clearing it for colder temps but its and idea.

the best one i saw thow was a solor tracker but for steam and all it was was a pipe cut in half with a foil added on it and a copper pipe added to it...

Needfuldoer · March 6

An electric water heater draws 4,500 watts.

For the same of simplicity, let's say a high end gaming PC running at full tilt draws 1000 watts.

In theory, 5 high end gaming PCs could dump 5,000 watts into the water. Problem is, they work backwards. The PCs will dump energy into the water only when they need to cool themselves off, regardless of the hot water load on the house. The water heater dumps energy into the water when the water needs to be hot, and is surprisingly strategic about it. Even that 4,500 watts isn't enough to take full city water pressure and lift it from 55 freedom degrees off the street to the 140 freedom degrees most people expect from the hot spigot.