It has the "potential" to take your average shower and kick it up a notch! ;-)
Terry On Nov 21, 2007 10:55 AM, Stephen A. Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For your entertainment on this holiday weekend, here's a water heater, > which you can buy today, which is about a factor of five over unity. > And it is not a heat pump -- that's true 5x OU, _not_ just > garden-variety COP=5. > > Well, that's what they claim, anyway. They're selling the things for > use in heating houses or apartments. > > Sorry, the pages are in French, and I didn't find anything in English; > I'll summarize (very briefly) below. (I'm afraid it may also be hard to > buy them anywhere outside France.) > > Main page: > > http://www.aepler.fr/importateur_officiel_ionise_pour_la_france_007.htm > > FAQ, with an explanation of how it works: > > http://www.aepler.fr/foire_aux_questions_037.htm > > A second site -- seems it's being marketed under two names: > > http://vulkaninfo.ch/accueil_008.htm > > Summary of some stuff from the FAQ page: > --------------------------------------- > > The approach was developed for use as a heating plant on Russian > submarines back in the days of the USSR. (Why not just use waste heat > from the reactor to keep the sub warm? They don't say.) A 3-phase > version was subsequently used on the MIR space station. > > Most recently a 9-phase version has been developed. (WTF?? Nine phases?? > French electricity must be weird indeed!) > > They've got CE certification, or so they say, along with some other > certificates (no UL listing, but it's not sold in the U.S. so they don't > need that). > > The principle of operation: > -------------------------- > > It's a heating system which is entirely electrically based, and makes > maximal use of the energy available through electrolysis. > > In short, instead of running a current through a wire to make it hot, > they run the current through water to heat it directly. This is far > more efficient, because, while electrons in wires travel at only 47 kps, > the electrons in the water travel at speeds up to 280 kps. The friction > which results heats the water violently, a little like what happens in > a microwave oven. However, the speed [of what? -- not clear] in a > microwave oven is still only 150 to 170 kps, so this device is even > higher performance than a microwave oven. > > [Somehow this emphasis on speed sounds very familiar -- have these > people been reading Newman's literature?] > > There's a diagram of its operation, which doesn't require a lot of > French to understand (if it can be understood at all, which is not clear): > > http://www.aepler.fr/Files/ionise_comment_ca_marche.pdf > > The most important note on the diagram is "La grand vitesse des > électrons provoque une friction qui augmente la température de l'eau", > or as we would say on this side of the Atlantic, "The great speed of the > electrons causes friction which raises the temperature of the water". > > They don't have prices on either website but there's a form you can > submit to get an estimate for setting up your abode (house or apartment) > with their heaters: > > http://vulkaninfo.ch/devis_026.htm > > as well as a contact form: > > http://www.aepler.fr/contact_023.htm > > * * * > > Enjoy! > > > > >
