4 ms·

I didn't spell everything out. I never suggested you store the electricity in batteries. The electric heater would be used to heat some mass, like a tank of wat

I didn't spell everything out. I never suggested you store the electricity in batteries. The electric heater would be used to heat some mass, like a tank of water or bricks. I look at this impeller and I see a custom mechanical design, with seals that are prone to failure. You replace that with an off-the-shelf DC motor and a resister bank in a tank of water, and you can put the tank of water in your basement or wherever you already have the heater for your hot-water heating system.

apendleton 8y ago
They also discuss an "eddy current retarder" design, which uses a magnetic mechanism that sounds vaguely like an electric generator but generates heat directly, as an alternative to the water break/impeller design. Sounds like maybe you get the best of both worlds, in terms of a smaller package but avoiding the motion -> electricity -> heat conversion losses due to the extra step.