A new technique for saving water trapped inside home water networks

摘要

In a typical home water network, water pipes connecting faucets to the central water heater are long. This will lead to a large amount of water being trapped inside the water network and exposed to environmental conditions. Further, in the summer, this trapped water also heats up to an uncomfortable high temperature. Users typically waste this water by letting it flow down the drain until water at a comfortable temperature arrives. Continuous circulation has been proposed but it consumes a significant amount of energy. In this paper, a new approach to saving trapped water is proposed. It enables the circulation of hot as well as cold water. This is achieved via the introduction of a new component called the back box which is installed inside the home water network. This back box enables the circulation of water in a direction against the line pressure. The experimental and simulation results show the viability and effectiveness of the new approach. A significant amount of water can be saved as confirmed by the obtained results.