On Aug 5, 6:39*pm, "Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:
My brother-in-law and his wife are planning to retire and build a custom
home with as many energy-saving and eco-friendly features as possible.
Since they're likely to be stuck with HOA rules about exterior
appearance, solar panels on the roof are probably out, but they were
wondering about simply running water pipes through the roof space.

Does this have possibilities?

Perce

I saw an installation like that years ago in some magazine. they'd
built a whole grid of pipes to allow the water plenty of time to
capture the heat. although now that i think about it, maybe just a
large tank, maybe about the same size as the water heater, would be
enough, rather than a lot of pipe. uninsulated tank, of course.
assuming that most of the time there would be enough time for the
whole tank to get back to temp between uses. one thing's for sure,
though; need to check for leaks frequently.

btw, i've been monitoring my attic temp this summer, and it peaks out
at around 120; that's in connecticut, and with an attic fan. that's
quite a big chunk of the way up to 140 or whatever you keep the water
at.